Monthly Action Points (MAP) for the Security Council: August 2024

Central African Republic

Violence and insecurity in the Central African Republic (CAR) persist, driven by continued impunity for serious crimes. All parties to the conflict have committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), exacerbated by the cross-border proliferation of weapons; alarmingly, these violations have increased by 47% in 2024 compared to 2023. Women and girls continue to be subject to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), which disproportionately affects rural women and women in conflict-affected areas. However, there is a persistent lack of access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, psychosocial and legal support, and other SGBV response services. Women human rights defenders (WHRDs) and peacebuilders face threats to their political participation and increasingly restricted civic space in one of the most gender-unequal countries in the world.

The situation in CAR is also significantly impacted by spillover of regional conflicts. For example, the war in Sudan has forcibly displaced over 34,000 people into CAR, 83% of whom are women and children; further, there are confirmed reports that Sudanese warring parties, who are known perpetrators of widespread SGBV, have entered CAR territory.

In discussing the situation in CAR and the forthcoming independent review of MINUSCA, the Security Council should:

• Condemn violations of the ceasefire agreement by armed groups and mercenaries, and demand an end to all violations of international human rights and humanitarian law;
• Call on the CAR authorities and MINUSCA to monitor and report specifically on threats and violence against women leaders, peacebuilders, and human rights defenders; and enhance their protection against threats, reprisals, and retaliation;
• Promote the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women, including in upcoming local elections, through: protecting and promoting civic space; implementing the 35% electoral quota in accordance with the 2016 Gender Parity Law; taking measures to protect women candidates from harassment, violence, and intimidation; and ensuring voter registration and issuance of necessary identification documents on a non-discriminatory basis, including for women from minority groups and who are internally displaced;
• Support the work of the Special Criminal Court to hold accountable perpetrators of atrocities and other serious crimes, including sexual and gender-based crimes.

Libya

Women continue to be marginalized from political processes in Libya; for example, no women are included in the 6+6 Committee responsible for drafting electoral laws, and women comprise only 16.5% of parliamentarians. Security Council members should explicitly reinforce the necessity of ensuring women’s meaningful and safe participation in formal, substantive, and specific roles at every level of the peace process and in provincial councils, including through adoption of a quota for women of at least 30%. Civic space continues to be restricted both by repressive laws and decrees, and through intimidation and reprisals. Politically active women in Libya, including WHRDs, journalists, peacebuilders, and activists, are frequently targeted due to their work, through both online harassment, hate campaigns, and threats of violence, and through arrests and abductions, arbitrary detention, and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, perpetrated by both state and non-state actors. These actions not only prevent women’s groups from carrying out their work, including provision of basic services in humanitarian contexts, but also deny women’s fundamental rights to full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in public and political life.

The Security Council should:

• Condemn all violations of international human rights, humanitarian, and refugee law, including acts of SGBV;
• Express support for the full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation of diverse Libyan women in public and political life, and condemn all acts of intimidation and reprisal against them;
• Urgently appoint a new Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Libya in order to facilitate Libya’s democratic transition by ensuring a political process inclusive of diverse women and which will guarantee free and fair elections, and to work to rebuild trust between UNSMIL and the Libyan people;
• Ensure that UNSMIL adheres to UN human rights due diligence policies when engaging with Libyan actors;
• Call on UNSMIL to take immediate measures to prioritize WPS, including by fulfilling its mandate to ensure the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women at all levels and in all decision-making;
• Call on UNSMIL and the government of Libya to integrate a gender perspective into security sector reform and disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) efforts, and throughout the implementation of the ceasefire agreement;
• Express support for the International Criminal Court’s investigation in Libya.

Sudan

Sudan’s civil war continues to have a devastating impact on civilians. All warring parties have committed widespread abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law, including the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. UN and international experts warn that abuses since April 15, 2023 could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity; further, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide continues to warn of the escalating risk of genocide. Intensified fighting in and around El Fasher has caused increased civilian casualties and isolated the city from receiving humanitarian assistance; further, there is now only one hospital with surgical capacity left in the city. Fighting has also spread to Sennar State, which was previously a hub for humanitarian aid provision, including sexual and reproductive health care, and disrupted much-needed supplies from reaching other areas where needs are high, including White Nile, Kordofan and Darfur.

The impact of the conflict continues to fall most severely on women. Sudan is the world’s worst displacement crisis, with 10.7 million people displaced within Sudan, many more than once, and over 2 million refugees fleeing to neighboring countries. 78% of refugees are women and children. Ongoing fighting has disrupted agricultural production and driven up the price of food and fuel, leading to the world’s largest hunger crisis, escalating rapidly with approximately 25.6 million people — over half the population — in crisis levels of hunger. As hunger rises, women are forced to adopt harmful coping strategies which increase protection risks and risk of gender-based violence, including: eating last and least in the household, creating additional health risks for pregnant and lactating women; transactional sex; and early, child, and forced marriage.

Conflict-related sexual violence has been widespread since the beginning of the conflict, including kidnapping, rape, sexual slavery, and sexual exploitation. Masalit women, and women from other African tribes, have also been targeted based on their ethnicity. Women activists, peacebuilders, and human rights defenders, including those documenting GBV committed by armed actors, have been targeted and intimidated. Further, Sudan’s maternal mortality rate, already one of the highest in the world, has risen as a result of the conflict. GBV prevention, response, and risk mitigation needs are urgent, but with the near collapse of health services and continued attacks on providers and medical facilities in violation of international humanitarian law, survivors have limited access to health care, including sexual and reproductive care and psychosocial support. The continued telecommunications blackout severely impedes humanitarian response and hinders civilians’ ability to share and receive critical information. Emergency response rooms (ERRs) and local organizations, including women-led organizations, play a pivotal role in delivering assistance to those unreachable by international actors and must be included in humanitarian coordination mechanisms and decision-making fora.

The Security Council should:

• Demand all parties fully comply with Resolution 2736 (2024), including by:
  • Immediately halting the siege of El Fasher, seeking an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and complying with their obligations under international law, including by immediately ceasing all acts of sexual and gender-based violence and ensuring accountability for such violations;
  • Supporting efforts by the Secretary-General to urgently identify options for the protection of civilians;
  • Calling on external actors to refrain from interfering in the conflict, including by supplying arms to the warring parties;
  • Demanding that all actors, including the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy on Sudan, the African Union, the League of Arab States, and other key regional actors, ensure the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women, including human rights defenders, and civil society, in all efforts to build peace;
  • Ensuring rapid, safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access in line with international law.
• Urgently fund the Humanitarian Response Plan, the Sudan Famine Prevention Plan, the Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan, and neighboring countries and host communities also enduring humanitarian crises;
• Call for accountability of all parties for any acts of SGBV, and strengthen the existing sanctions regime to include SGBV as a stand-alone designation criterion;
• Provide increased, flexible, and direct funding to local civil society and humanitarian organizations, including women-led organizations, who provide life-saving assistance across the country;
• Ensure that intersectional gender analysis; data disaggregated by gender, sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability; and GBV risk mitigation assessment inform all aspects of the crisis response. Support and strengthen the capacity of local actors to identify and respond to the needs of survivors with case management, medical assistance, psychosocial support, and referral services;
• Sustain and strengthen the UN Country Team’s capacity to monitor, document, and report on human rights violations, particularly against women and human rights defenders.