[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] stated there have been 269 verified human rights violations in the Central African Republic (CAR) during his report [text, PDF] to the UN Security Council [official website] earlier this week. According to the report, circulated Wednesday, there have been more than 900 citizens affected. The report did not give a detailed account of how many of these rights violations were related to unlawful and unprovoked arrest, gender and sexual violence, or cruel treatment, but Ban did state, “18 incidents of human rights violations and abuse related to allegations of witchcraft affecting mainly women and children were documented” [Al Jazeera report]. Among the factors increasing turmoil surrounding human rights in the CAR are torture, sexual violence, appropriation and destruction of land, and unwarranted and extended detention of citizens. The report went on to say that human rights “remain[] of grave concern, particularly as a result of continuing Boko Haram attacks in Cameroon and Chad, as well as abuses perpetrated by armed elements in the Central African Republic.” This report comes at a time of relative peace, after a visit by Pope Francis earlier last year, in an otherwise tumultuous [AP report] portion of the world.

Violence has persisted in the CAR since the predominately Muslim-based Seleka rebels ousted former president François Bozize [BBC profile] in March 2013. More than 400,000 people remain displaced due to the violent overthrow, with over a half million more people seeking refuge in other countries. In November UNICEF [official website] called for [press release] aid to approximately 1.2 million children distressed by conflict [JURIST report] in the CAR. In January of last year members of a UN investigatory commission reported that crimes against humanity have been widely committed by all parties to the conflict in the CAR, prompting the commission to call for the establishment of an international court [JURIST report] to objectively investigate and prosecute crimes. Earlier that month the UN published a report stating that violent acts committed in the CAR constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity [JURIST report], but not genocide. Despite this finding, members of the international community maintain that there is much work to be done [JURIST op-ed] in the nation. In 2014 the International Criminal Court [official website] opened a second investigation [JURIST report] into CAR war crimes.