The Hague/New York/Montevideo/London, 14 February 2014
Dear Members of Parliaments from EU Member States and NATO countries,
With this urgent appeal we call upon action from your countries to help the International Community to prevent a genocide in Central African Republic (please see today’s story in The Economist: “Central African Republic: Sectarian Savagery” at (www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21596523-situation-still-out-control-christian-militiamen-pictured-hunt).
Since October 2013, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Judge Navi Pillay, and the UN Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide, Mr. Adama Dieng, have repeatedly called for immediate action to halt an incumbent genocide-situation, characterized by ethnic cleansing and unpredictable atrocities targeting the Muslim-minority population.
With the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2134 of 28 January 2014, the Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, authorized the EU and other States to send troops to Central African Republic to stop the massacres of innocent civilians on religious and other grounds.
The matter was discussed yesterday in New York at the PGA UN Committee, where Ambassadors from Sweden and Estonia confirmed their national commitment to this humanitarian cause: They will send ground-troops. France currently has the largest contingent in Bangui on the basis of previous Council resolutions and agreements with the Central African Government. In a meeting with PGA’s Secretary General on 12 February in New York, the Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the UN welcomed the possible activation of our global parliamentary network in support of the rapid deployment of humanitarian military contingents, especially if formed by police battalions.
As you all know, PGA fully supports the mandate of the ICC Prosecutor to investigate serious crimes against humanity in CAR, including the last statement of Prosecutor Bensouda.
We therefore kindly ask you to launch parliamentary questions and/or other initiatives with your Government to support the prompt intervention of forces that can prevent an imminent Genocide and the commission of crimes against humanity, which is unfolding in the heart of the African continent.
The 54 Members of PGA in the Central African Republic will be immensely grateful of your initiatives.
The PGA Secretariat stands ready to lend the necessary technical support, should you deem it useful.
Dip. Felipe Michelini (Uruguay)
Convenor, International Law and Human Rights Program, PGA
Mr. Mark Pritchard, MP (United Kingdom)
Co-Convenor, International Law and Human Rights Program, PGA
