Country: Central African Republic (the)
Location: Bangui and Berberati
Date of establishment: 2015
Team: 8 collaborators
Contact: bur-apcpi@asf.be – Telephone +236 72 74 05 72
(French) Guide for civil parties before the Special Criminal Court (Central African Republic)
The campaign to decriminalise poverty, activism and status
This article was published in ASF’s 2022 annual report
The next ExPEERience Talk (webinar) organised by ASF and its Justice ExPEERience network will address the theme of the Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Poverty, Status and Activism. It will take place on Thursday 5 October 2023 at 12pm (Tunis) – 1pm (Brussels). You can register now, participation is free.
The Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Poverty, Status and Activism, launched in Africa, South Asia, North America and the Caribbean, is led by a coalition of civil society organisations calling for the revision and repeal of laws that target people because of their status (social, political or economic) or their activism.
In many countries, criminal procedure, penal codes and policing policies continue to reflect a colonial legacy. Offences dating from the colonial era, such as vagrancy, begging or disorderly conduct, are commonly used against people already in a vulnerable or marginalised situationt (homeless people, people with disabilities, drug users, LGBTIQ+ people, sex workers, migrants, etc.), with the sole aim of criminalising what they represent in society rather than the offences they have committed.
At the same time, in several of these countries, the criminal law is being used to repress activism and stifle dissent. Sedition laws dating back to colonial times and more recent public order laws, for example, are ubiquitous tools deployed by states to stifle protest and limit freedom of expression. States use the security apparatus, justice and detention against individuals and groups who do not represent a danger to the safety of citizens, but rather to maintain the status quo and the privileges of a minority.
This abuse of power has a profound cost in terms of human rights, manifesting itself in discrimination, the use of lethal force, torture, arbitrary and excessive imprisonment, disproportionate sentences and inhumane conditions of detention. This situation is compounded by intersecting forms of oppression based on the gender, age, disability, race, ethnic origin, nationality and/or social class of people who are already marginalised. The populations most affected by this criminalisation of status, poverty and activism are also those most affected by phenomena such as prison overcrowding, pre-trial detention, loss of family income, loss of employment, etc.
In 2021, the campaign, which brings together lawyers, jurists, members of the judiciary, activists and experts from more than 50 organisations, won some important victories, including landmark cases against various laws before national courts in Africa. These include the adoption of principles on the decriminalisation of minor offences by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the establishment by the Pan-African Parliament in 2019 of guidelines for a normative/model law on policing.
The Campaign therefore represents a real opportunity for a global change in criminal and social laws, policies and practices. For the first time, civil society is focusing on the common dysfunctions of the criminal justice system and establishing, among other things, the links between colonial criminal legislation and the criminalisation of poverty, in a global context of shrinking civic space.
The campaign has been organised through several committees: a global committee, of which ASF is a member, and thematic and geographical sub-groups to ensure greater representativeness of stakeholders and greater impact.
Avocats Sans Frontières is a member of the coordinating committees of the Francophonie and North Africa sub-groups respectively. This structuring is intended to further strengthen the campaign’s research objectives, priorities and targets in terms of advocacy and awareness-raising.
On the occasion of the 18th Summit of the Francophonie, held in Djerba on 19 and 20 November 2022, ASF and its partners in the Tunisian coalition for the decriminalisation of minor offences and poverty, organised a parallel event in Djerba during which demands were made to the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), contained in a public document entitled the “Djerba Declaration”. The signatories believe that the OIF could and should play a central role in promoting the values of human rights, and promote the decriminalisation of minor offences which, in addition to their discriminatory nature, exacerbate the phenomena of prison overcrowding, which are themselves responsible for the worsening of inhumane and degrading conditions of detention.
The French-speaking sub-group, of which ASF is a member, started a series of internal consultation meetings in March 2023. These should lead to the drafting of a common vision and common objectives for its members, aligned with the campaign’s overall strategy charter that will bring together the common vision and objectives of its members. It will serve as the basis for an advocacy strategy vis-à-vis influential players such as the European Union and its member states, the African Union and its member states, the various European institutions responsible for cooperation policies, and the institutions and mechanisms of the United Nations.
The challenges of detention in the Central African Republic
This article is part of ASF’s 2022 annual report.
Since 2015, ASF has paid particular attention to the issue of imprisonment in the Central African Republic (CAR). In partnership with the Bar Association, lawyers and civil society, ASF is raising awareness among detainees, monitoring detention conditions, offering legal services to detainees and lobbying to ensure that the justice reform (sectoral justice policy) initiated in the country is fully implemented. ASF is in dialogue with the Ministry of Justice, the prison administration, police forces, judges and lawyers to highlight the realities on the ground regarding detention issues.
In March 2022, ASF carried out a study looking in depth at the issues relating to detention in CAR. The report, “Les pratiques de privation de liberté en République centrafricaine, reflets d’une justice de crise et d’une justice en crise“, carried out with Inanga and with financial support from the European Union, points the finger at practices that criminalise poverty and an abusive use of preventive detention.
Although the CAR has a comparatively low rate of imprisonment, in recent years there has been an explosion in the number of people detained, particularly as a result of the increased use of pre-trial detention. More than 80% of inmates at Ngaragba, the country’s main prison, are awaiting trial. The prison, originally designed to hold a maximum of 400 people, currently has more than 1,400 inmates. Many of them are incarcerated in defiance of Central African and international standards.
The Central African Republic has been experiencing recurrent political and security crises for years. Against this backdrop, the State is attempting to reassert its presence and authority, and the judicial system seems to be used exclusively for repressive purposes, under pressure from the national authorities and international partners.
According to many actors, this crisis situation justifies crisis justice. Many of the people held in pre-trial detention are being prosecuted for offences directly related to the crisis, such as criminal conspiracy, breaches of state security, rebellion and possession of weapons. Their guilt is often presumed by the judges in charge of placing and keeping them in detention.
In a country that aspires to justice and where leaders consider the fight against impunity a priority, the use of pre-trial detention seems to be a practice that is rarely questioned. As one senior judge bitterly put it in the above-mentioned study, “it is better to lock up an innocent person than to let a criminal go free”. Fundamental legal principles such as the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair defence are often relegated to second place in favour of political considerations and the need to restore peace and social cohesion.
In June 2022, at a workshop organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Justice, the study was presented to all justice stakeholders.The event brought together senior magistrates, court presidents, judges and prosecutors, examining magistrates and lawyers, as well as representatives of international bodies such as United Nations agencies, the European Union and the United States, and international NGOs. The discussions led to a consensus on the seriousness of the situation and the findings reported by ASF and its partners.The participants agreed on a series of recommendations to be implemented as a matter of urgency.These recommendations include, for example, the need to deliver judicial decisions within shorter timeframes and to provide more training for prosecutors and examining magistrates in charge of following up detainees’ cases.
The issue of detention has become a priority for the Central African Ministry of Justice, as a result of highlighting detention conditions and reporting on the experiences of local players in the field. In October 2022, the General Inspectorate of Judicial Services was strengthened.It is now competent and equipped to act directly on detention issues.
In 2023, ASF will continue its work in partnership with local stakeholders, particularly judicial and penitentiary actors‧s, as well as its advocacy with the authorities so that the commitments made give rise to structural reforms offering lasting solutions to the problem of detention in CAR.
Development of regional approaches: The regional hubs
This article is part of ASF’s 2022 annual report.
In order to develop an action that best promotes its mandate and is consistent with the specific needs of the national contexts it is involved in, ASF relies on solid analyses of the issues in the countries where it operates. Being anchored in the realities of the countries is essential in order to develop contextualised expertise, to build strategic partnerships at the local level and to be able to put in place relevant and qualitative actions for the local populations.
Furthermore, the issues we address do not stop at borders and often have transnational dimensions.
To meet these requirements, ASF has been developing regional approaches for several years through its regional hubs in the Euro-Mediterranean region and in East Africa, with offices in Tunis and Kampala respectively.
These regional offices guarantee the necessary proximity to the beneficiaries of the actions and local partners in order to strengthen ASF’s presence in the region. They promote the development of their actions by building on existing expertise and networks.
The creation of these hubs is also part of the organisation’s decentralisation process. One of their functions is to strengthen the strategic dialogue between the different offices and to ensure that the perspective, experiences and expertise developed at the regional level feed into ASF’s global approaches.
The choice to prioritise the creation of these two regional offices was guided by factors both internal and external to the organisation:
- The choice to strengthen our presence in regions where we have demonstrated our added value, our ability to mobilise relevant stakeholders and our relationships with national and international stakeholders
- The presence of an ASF office with significant experience of the regional context
- The identification of transnational issues
Main functions of the hubs
1) Strategic development and guidance
The hubs provide support and guidance to existing missions, and the implementation of actions that are developed in other countries of the region or at the regional level.
2) Expertise and Knowledge
The hubs produce relevant and contextualised expertise based on data collected in the field and linked to the organisation’s advocacy strategies.
3) International advocacy and networking
The hubs provide support to networks, which will thus be able to benefit from appropriate assistance in the development, monitoring and evaluation of influence strategies. While national issues remain the responsibility of the country offices, the hub is more specifically interested in supporting networks at the international level in order to influence the development of public policies.
4) Capacity building
This involves capacity building for country teams in the region, in areas that are functional to the development of intervention strategies and on the basis of a soft peer-reinforcement approach.
This strategy of strengthening regional dynamics has proven its worth in the first year of setting up regional offices:
- Regional projects have already been launched in East Africa and in the Euro-Med region.
- This has enabled us to initiate actions at the level of regional bodies, such as the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha.
- It allows us to develop actions in countries where we do not have a permanent team, such as Tanzania or Kenya.
- Rationalisation and pooling of human resources through the creation of regional functions, covering actions in several countries
ASF’s annual report is available!
The Avocats Sans Frontières team is delighted to present its latest annual report.
We have come a long way since ASF was founded in 1992 by a group of Belgian lawyers. Over these 30 years, hundreds of people have contributed to making the organisation what it is today: a militant organisation active in a dozen countries, working to promote access to justice and the rule of law based on human rights, in close collaboration with local actors.
These thirty years of action, the local roots we have developed and the links we have forged with human rights defenders from the four corners of the world give us a great deal of strength and confidence as we look to the future and continue to deploy impactful action in the service of populations in vulnerable situations (women, children, the LGBTQI+ community, ethnic minorities, people in detention, people in migration, etc.).
But the challenges are many. All over the world, civil society organisations and human rights defenders are faced with worrying developments and trends: the rise of authoritarianism, the shrinking of civic space, growing public distrust of institutions, heightened social tensions, etc.
Defenders of human rights and access to justice have to work in contexts that are increasingly hostile to them. The very notions of human rights and the rule of law are being called into question. Activists, lawyers and journalists working to defend the fundamental rights of populations in vulnerable situations are increasingly systematically targeted by repressive policies.
Every page of this report bears witness to the vigour of the flame that drives those who are committed to upholding human rights at the very heart of our societies, at the risk and peril of their own freedom. This report is a tribute to each and every one of them.
Annual report 2022
Witchcraft representations and judicial treatment of the offence of Charlatanism and Witchcraft Practices in the Central African Republic
Witchcraft, an omnipresent element of centrafrican culture and society
In the Central African Republic (CAR), witchcraft is omnipresent: it dominates and shapes the daily life of the population, especially in rural areas. Witchcraft representations, which are an integral part of Central African customs and practices, provide an explanatory framework for all life events: death, illness, accidents, professional or academic failures, etc. The successive crises that have shaken the country since 2013 have reinforced the use of witchcraft as an explanation for the diverse misfortunes the popluation has experienced. An increased involvment of religious bodies in the ‘fight’ against witchcraft has also been noted during that perido.
In the Central African Penal Code, Articles 149 and 150 condemn ‘charlatanism or witchcraft practices likely to disturb public order or harm people or property’, including practices that cause ‘serious injury or permanent disability’ or ‘death’. Accusations of witchcraft, based on these two vague and imprecise articles, are very common and frequently lead to an outburst of violence by popular vindictiveness against the accused person: exclusion, lynching, or even, in the worst case, brutal execution. These allegations are used to get rid of people who have become undesirable in the community and disproportionately affect the vulnerable and isolated, especially elderly women.
The judicial treatment of the offence of charlatanism and witchcraft practices
The legal vagueness surrounding charlatanism and witchcraft practices (CWP) is acknowledged by most actors in the Central African judiciary and is a breeding ground for arbitrary decision-making. Judges tend to rely on their own convictions and beliefs when dealing with witchcraft cases. Moreover, faced with the difficulty of providing material proof of an act of witchcraft, most judicial actors consider the confession of the accused person as the ultimate evidence, regardless of the motives of the accused in making the confession, which is often used for purposes of social appeasement and/or personal protection. Furthermore, social pressure from the community and the so-called protection of public order, which is invoked as a higher principle, have a strong influence on the judges’ decision-making and even divert the course of justice in order to satisfy the majority of the population.
Furthermore, judicial intervention is not in capacity to ensure the protection and reintegration of those accused of CWP. By prosecuting a person for CWP, the court attests to the reality of her or his witchcraft and the convicted person will remain vulnerable to further convictions and even further violence (even after release from prison). Justice also has the effect of formalising the omnipresence of the witchcraft risk, contributing to the effervescence of such types of discourse. In the event of an acquittal, the population, mostly distrustful of the judiciary, may seek justice for themselves, indirectly encouraged by the apparent passivity of judicial institutions in dealing with the violence inflicted on accused persons.
Action by ASF and its partners
Since 2021, thanks to the support of the European Union, ASF and its partners (Centre for the Promotion of Children’s Rights (CPDE), Organisation of Young Leaders for Development (OJLD), Maison de l’enfant et de la femme pygmée (MEFP) and Défis et Objectifs Centrafrique (DOC)) have been intervening at the heart of the state and community justice systems by promoting access to justice and the defence of women accused of CWP. The observations presented above are drawn from the study ‘Witchcraft representations and judicial treatment of the offence of Charlatanism and Witchcraft Practices in CAR’. This study was commissioned by Avocats Sans Frontières as part of the project ‘Contributing to the sustainable respect of the right to a fair trial and human rights for women accused of witchcraft in CAR’, in order to further inform the organisation’s action and future interventions in this area.
(French) Study – Witchcraft representations and judicial treatment of the offence of Charlatanism and Witchcraft practices in CAR
The penalisation of charlatanism and witchcraft practices: An obstacle to the realisation of the rights of women and minors in the Central African Republic
This article has been taken from the Annual Report 2021 of Avocats Sans Frontières.
In the Central African Republic (CAR), the practice of charlatanism and witchcraft is considered a crime under the penal code. The prosecution of suspected “sorcery” practitioners frequently leads to serious human rights violations and systematically impacts women and children. At the Bimbo women’s prison, half of the women in prison are condemned for alleged witchcraft offences. The repression suffered by those accused of witchraft can originate in formal justice but also in popular vindictiveness. People suspected of witchcraft are regularly subjected to humiliation and corporal punishment, sometimes resulting in death.
Such violence is rooted in structural inequalities and patterns of patriarchal domination against women and certain categories of people in vulnerable situations. This type of violence is therefore a consequence of social and cultural norms that hinder the realisation of womens’ and minors’ rights.
ASF’s objective is not to fight against these beliefs that are rooted in Central African society, but to fight against the “witch hunt”. ASF’s action in this regard is mainly based on three axes.
(i) With ASF’s support, civil society organisations run awareness and information sessions on these practices, their propensity to affect certain categories of the population and the disastrous consequences they can have on the lives of these individuals.
(ii) ASF works to provide holistic assistance to people accused of charlatanism and witchcraft. In collaboration with civil society organisations, actors in the criminal justice system, community leaders and NGOs, ASF ensures that people accused of charlatanism and witchcraft are identified as early as possible so that they can benefit from legal assistance from the moment they are taken into custody and during their possible pre-trial detention. It is also essential to assist these people as soon as possible to limit the consequences of such an accusation on their reputation, and therefore on their chances of integrating into the community or providing for themselves and their families.
(iii) ASF noted that the Central African legal arsenal was inadequate to deal with this social phenomenon. The offence does not have a clear definition and a wide range of evidence and clues can be used to prove the offence in court, despite the fact that it is not defined in the penal code. ASF is conducting research to gain a better understanding of the socio-cultural treatment of witchcraft and to eventually develop an advocacy strategy for a more human rights-based approach to these offences.