Source description last updated: 16 March 2023

In brief: The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is a UN peacekeeping mission operating in the Central African Republic (CAR). It is headquartered in Bangui.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Human rights reports

Covered monthly on ecoi.net for the Central African Republic

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

MINUSCA was established by UN Security Council resolution 2149 (2014) in April 2014. MINUSCA replaced the previous UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) (MINUSCA website: About, undated) and was transferred authority from the African Union-led International Support Mission to the CAR (MISCA) (UN Peacekeeping website: MINUSCA Fact Sheet, undated). As of February 2023, MINUSCA had 16,363 uniformed personnel (including 13,394 troops and 2,415 police officers) and 1,236 civilian personnel. (MINUSCA website: Facts and Figures, last updated February 2023)

MINUSCA’s mandate includes protecting the civilian population from violence, supporting the CAR’s peace process, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, as well as protecting human rights. (UN: Security Council Extends Mandate of Multidimensional Stabilization Mission in Central African Republic for One Year, Adopting Resolution 2659 (2022), 14 November 2022)

The mission’s human rights-related tasks are implemented by MINUSCA’s Human Rights Division (DDH), which represents the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the country. The DDH “continuously monitors and reports on human rights violations and abuses throughout the CAR, including through regular visits to prisons and detention facilities, visits of IDP camps, fact-finding missions as well as joint protection of civilians missions” and disseminates reports on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. (MINUSCA website: Human rights, undated)

Funding:

MINUSCA is funded through a separate United Nations account approved annually by the UN General Assembly. MINUSCA’s approved budget for the one-year period from July 2021 to June 2022 was 1,116,738,700 US dollars. (UN Peacekeeping website: MINUSCA Fact Sheet, undated)

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: Central African Republic

Thematic focus: Human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law (including the treatment of children in armed conflict and conflict-related sexual violence); political and security-related context; civic space (including workings of the judiciary)

Methodology:

MINUSCA’s human rights reports are based on information on human rights violations collected and verified by its DDH. The mission’s periodic human rights reports provide analysis of violations by perpetrator, type of violation, and sector of country (see, for example, MINUSCA: Monthly Report: Human Rights Situation – December 2022, 31 December 2022, pp. 1-5 and MINUSCA: Monthly Report: Human Rights Situation; October 2022, 31 October 2022, pp. 1-5). Research may involve individual confidential interviews conducted during fact-finding visits with victims, eyewitnesses (see, for example, MINUSCA: Rapport sur les violences sexuelles liées aux conflits commises par le FPRC et l’UPC dans les Préfectures du Mbomou et de la Haute-Kotto - Décembre 2020 – mars 2022, 25 July 2022, p. 4), and other sources such as perpetrators, internally displaced persons, and local community leaders (see, for example, MINUSCA: Rapport d’enquête sur l’attaque de Boyo, Préfecture de la Ouaka - Du 6 au 13 décembre 2021, 25 July 2022, p. 5). MINUSCA states that these testimonies are cross-checked against accounts from independent and credible sources (see, for example, MINUSCA: Rapport sur les violences sexuelles liées aux conflits commises par le FPRC et l’UPC dans les Préfectures du Mbomou et de la Haute-Kotto; Décembre 2020 – mars 2022, 25 July 2022, p. 4). The mission emphasises that alleged violations that could not be verified or have been deemed of limited credibility are not included in its reports (see, for example, MINUSCA: Monthly Report: Human Rights Situation – December 2022, 31 December 2022, p. 1, MINUSCA: Rapport sur les violences sexuelles liées aux conflits commises par le FPRC et l’UPC dans les Préfectures du Mbomou et de la Haute-Kotto; Décembre 2020 – mars 2022, 25 July 2022, p. 4).

For further information about MINUSCA’s human rights monitoring methodology, see the OHCHR’s Manuals on Human Rights Monitoring (2001 and 2011 editions) at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/publications/policy-and-methodological-publications/manual-human-rights-monitoring-revised-edition

Languages of publication:

French and English

Methodological note:

ecoi.net's source descriptions contain background information on an organisation’s mission & objective, funding and reporting methodology, as well as on how we cover the source. The descriptions were prepared after researching publicly accessible information within time constraints. Most information contained in a source description was taken from the source itself. The aim is to provide a brief introduction to the sources covered regularly, offering information on relevant aspects in one place in a systematic manner. 

All links accessed 16 March 2023.