Policy

The Central African Republic (CAR) acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 8 November 2002, becoming a State Party on 1 May 2003. CAR has declared that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically.[1]

CAR did not participate in the Ottawa Process that lead to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has attended two Mine Ban Treaty Meetings of States Parties, in September 2002 (when it announced its intention to join the treaty) and in 2005, in addition to some meetings of the intersessional Standing Committees in Geneva. Since 2005, CAR has not attended any meeting of the treaty, including the Second and Third Review Conferences, Meetings of States Parties, or intersessional meetings. It submitted an initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in November 2004, but has not submitted any subsequent annual reports.

On 5 December 2018, CAR voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 73/61 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention, as it has in previous years.[2]

CAR is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. CAR is a signatory state to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

CAR has reported that it has not produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes, and it is not known to have ever used them.[3]

There have been no reports of antipersonnel mine use in the internal conflict between the government and rebel forces since 2013. However, several types of landmines, including M19 and TC/6 antivehicle mines and NR442 antipersonnel mines, were photographed by researchers from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and by a journalist from France24 News in February 2014 among the weapons seized from armed groups by French forces near Mpoko.[4]

Also, the Belgian-made NR442 bounding fragmentation mines and the containers for the pressure fuzes for the mines appear in a photo released by the French Ministry of Defense in February 2014. These mines were destroyed by explosive ordnance disposal experts from the French peacekeeping mission as part of Operation Sangaris.[5]

Mines were also present in photographs taken on 30 June 2014 when UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) visited Camp du Roux where poorly stored ammunition was found and assessed.[6]