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STORY: GENEVA / CAR HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT
TRT: 02:30
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 MAY 2017 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Many of the violations that we have documented may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity and the mapping report sets out a strategy to fight the pervasive impunity in the country. The mapping report which is a joint report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Mission in the Central African Republic has documented patterns of serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by successive Government forces and various local and foreign armed groups, as well as the international and foreign defence groups.”
4. Close up, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The report which is mandated by the UN Security Council, documents in detail 620 incidents, including horrific accounts of entire villages being burnt to the ground in reprisal attacks, multiple accounts of gang rapes of women and girls as young as five, extra-judicial killings, deaths following severe torture or ill-treatment in detention centres, serious violence against people on the basis of their religion, ethnicity or their perceived support for armed groups.”
6. Close up, hands typing
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Now we have got a Special Court for the Central African Republic that has been established, and the special prosecutor has just joined a few days ago. So the transitional justice process is beginning and it is very important. We recognize that of course the violence is ongoing, one of the key aspects of the transition has to be the disarmament of these armed groups and that is a huge challenge at this moment.”
8. Wide shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Babar Baloch, Spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“The recent upsurge in violence is also pushing people to cross the border into the DRC’s Bas Uele and Ubangi provinces. Some 20,575 Central Africans have fled over the past two weeks, according to estimates.”
10. Close up, journalist
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Joel Millman, Spokesperson, International Organisation for Migration (IOM):
“May 27th, IOM is reporting 500,000 internally displaced persons in the country, that figure has not been reached since August 2014. So it is the highest in almost three years”.
12. Various shots, reporters
Mass killings and other serious human rights violations have been documented in an extensive UN mapping report covering the multiple conflicts in the Central African Republic (CAR) between 2003 and 2015, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced in Geneva.
Speaking today (30 May) to reporters in the Swiss city, OHCHR’s spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that “many of the violations that we have documented may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity and the mapping report sets out a strategy to fight the pervasive impunity in the country.”
She added “the mapping report which is a joint report by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Mission in the Central African Republic has documented patterns of serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law by successive Government forces and various local and foreign armed groups, as well as the international and foreign defence groups.”
The history of the country has been marked by deep-rooted poverty, ethnic tensions, pervasive political instability, corruption and nepotism that led to a succession of armed conflicts the mapping report states.
The report mandated by the UN Security Council documents in detail 620 incidents including “horrific accounts of entire villages being burnt to the ground in reprisal attacks, multiple accounts of gang rapes of women and girls as young as five, extra-judicial killings, deaths following severe torture or ill-treatment in detention centres, serious violence against people on the basis of their religion, ethnicity or their perceived support for armed groups,” Shamdasani said.
The 368-page mapping report by OHCHR is based on more than 1,200 confidential and open sources. It is meant to help authorities to identify cases as they establish a Special Criminal Court to investigate the worst crimes committed in the country.
Shamdasani said “now we have got a Special Court for the Central African Republic that has been established, and the Special prosecutor has just joined a few days ago. So the transitional justice process is beginning and it is very important. We recognize that of course the violence is ongoing, one of the key aspects of the transition has to be the disarmament of these armed groups and that is a huge challenge at this moment.”
The report sets out recommendations such as a comprehensive approach to transitional justice, bearing in mind the prevailing security context, the need for a prosecution strategy for the Special Criminal Court for the Central African Republic and the need to create a truth and reconciliation commission.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) informed that more funds are urgently needed to aid more than 88,000 people who have been forced to flee an upsurge in violence in the CAR.
UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said “the recent upsurge in violence is also pushing people to cross the border into the DRC’s Bas Uele and Ubangi provinces. Some 20,575 Central Africans have fled over the past two weeks, according to estimates.”
UNHCR has called for an urgent support to its funding appeal of USD 209,2 million for the country which is so far only 6 per cent funded.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has recorded an influx in the number of internally displaced persons in the CAR, said its spokesperson Joel Millman. He said on “May 27th, IOM is reporting 500,000 internally displaced persons in the country, that figure has not been reached since August 2014. So it is the highest in almost three years.”
