Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in The Central
African Republic. Some of these links
may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or
even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or
to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Central African Republic U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/central-african-republic/
[accessed 7 July 2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Although the law
prohibits torture and specifies punishment for those found guilty of physical
abuse, there were reports from NGOs that Central African Armed Forces (FACA)
soldiers, gendarmes, and police were responsible for torture (see section
1.g.). Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/central-african-republic/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 14 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE
USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND INSURGENCIES? In Bangui, OCRB
officials are often accused of abuse of power and excessive use of force. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC AFRICAN UNION FORCES - AU peacekeepers were implicated in human
rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial
executions. Republic of Congo soldiers operating as AU peacekeepers were
responsible for at least two serious incidents of abuse. On December 22,
2013, Republic of Congo soldiers tortured to death two anti-balaka fighters held in detention in revenge for the
death of a soldier from within their own ranks. On March 24, Republic of
Congo soldiers summarily executed between 11 and 18 people, a mix of both
anti-balaka fighters and civilians, in Boali after they were attacked by the anti-balaka and lost one of their men. The AU suspended the
two commanders responsible for the soldiers in each location, rotated the
troops out of the areas, and publicly declared it would launch an
investigation. At time of writing, there had been little progress in
identifying those responsible for the killings. In March, Chadian
peacekeepers with the AU mission were accused by the transitional government
of firing indiscriminately at civilians in Bangui’s PK 12 neighborhood,
killing dozens of people. Following a public outcry, the Chadian government
withdrew its 850 troops from the AU peacekeeping mission. Tortured bodies
found in CAR river Agence France-Presse AFP, Bangui, 20 June 2014 www.news24.com/Africa/News/Tortured-bodies-found-in-CAR-river-20140620 [accessed 22 June
2014] "At least 10
bodies bearing signs of torture have been found floating in the Ouaka river near Bambari since
Monday," a police official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The bodies
are all male, and seem to have been tortured, beaten and stabbed or shot, and
they all had their arms and feet bound," he added, saying that an
investigation had been launched into the killings. The Central African
Republic has seen more than a year of unrest, with violence between the ex-Seleka rebels and the largely Christian militias leaving
tens of thousands dead and about a quarter of the population of some 4.5
million displaced. A local journalist
said that the bodies found in the latest massacre had been "horribly
mutilated" and that recent violence in the region had left the local
population in a state of panic. Central African
Republic - Executive Summary U.S. Dept of State, 2011 photos.state.gov/libraries/bangui/232451/conshr/2011_CAR_HRR_English.pdf [accessed 19 Jan
2014] Incidents of
serious human rights abuse occurred during the year; the most significant
reportedly were torture, beatings, and rape of suspects and prisoners; harsh
and rudimentary conditions in prisons and detention centers; and arbitrary
arrest and detention PHYSICAL ABUSE,
PUNISHMENT, AND TORTURE
- In December approximately 10 soldiers of the presidential guard and Teddy Bozize, a son of President Bozize,
brought two men to a cemetery where they robbed and severely beat them. No action had been taken as of year’s
end. Abdoulaye
Amat, a presidential guard member who cut off the
ear of Price Telo in June 2010, remained free at
year’s end. In April near Kaga Bandoro, the APRD arrested
and reportedly tortured a man for allegedly practicing witchcraft. APRD members tied the man to a tree, beat
him and cut off two of his toes to force a confession. After confessing, the
man escaped, and the APRD responded by arresting his mother and reportedly
torturing her. No further information was available at year’s end. In May near Kaga
Bandoro the APRD arrested a man for alleged shape
shifting, a form of witchcraft. When he managed to flee, the APRD arrested
his mother, stripped her naked, beat her, and forced her to pay a fine of
100,000 CFA francs ($ 200) before releasing her. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For current
articles:: Search Amnesty
International Website [accessed 25 December
2018] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61560.htm [accessed 22 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61560.htm [accessed 3 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – Although the
Penal Code prohibits torture and specifies sanctions for those found guilty
of physical abuse, police, including the OCRB, continued to torture, beat,
and otherwise abuse criminal suspects, detainees, and prisoners. According to
local human rights groups such as the Association Against Torture and the
Central African Human Rights League (LCDH), prisons employed torture less
frequently than in the previous year, although the OCRB reportedly tortured
suspects more frequently. The government did not take effective action to
punish police who tortured suspects, and impunity remained a problem. Family
members of victims and human rights groups, including the LCDH, pursued court
complaints filed since 2003 with the prosecutor regarding the deaths of
several prisoners due to police abuse; however, authorities did not take
action on any of the cases by year's end. The LCDH reported the abuse of
civilians by the presidential security forces and filed court complaints of
police abuse. Police most
commonly employed a form of torture known as le cafe, the repeated beating of
the sole of an individual's feet with a baton or stick. Immediately after
administering le cafe, police would sometimes force the individual to walk on
badly bruised feet, and if the individual was unable to do so, police would
beat the individual. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 5 Civil Liberties: 5 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/central-african-republic [accessed 22 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 11 May
2020] Corruption,
political interference, and lack of training undermine the judiciary. Judges
are appointed by the president, and proceedings are prone to executive
influence. Limitations on searches and detention are often ignored. While the
penal code prohibits torture, police brutality remains a serious problem.
Prison conditions are poor. The military and members of the Presidential
Guard have committed human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings,
with impunity. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, " Torture by Police, Forced
Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
The Central African Republic",
http://gvnet.com/torture/CentralAfricanRep.htm, [accessed <date>] |
