A/HRC/25/43 the Presidential Guard) used to be 11,381 and to active and recently formed non-State armed groups, 8,872.18 The demobilization of 4,777 combatants of the APRD in the Paoua and Bozoum areas from 13 July to 11 September 2011 resulted in the recovery of 3,558 weapons, of which 3,491 were home-made and only 67 were weapons of war.19 According to some sources, when the former Séléka arrived in Bangui in March 2013, weapons were stolen from military camps and other weapons handed out by the Bozizé regime. B. The culture of impunity 34. Over the past 20 years, the Central African Republic has experienced a number of mutinies, rebellions and coups d’état, along with gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Despite these serious and recurring human rights violations, few of the suspected perpetrators have been prosecuted. The enactment of several amnesty laws, such as those of 30 May 1996, 15 March 1997 and 13 October 2008, has strengthened this de facto impunity. 35. In the 2009 universal periodic review, it was noted that impunity was also a feature of the measures adopted by the Government, which were not commensurate with the seriousness of the acts. To transfer members of the armed forces from one region to another, for example, or impose purely administrative or disciplinary sanctions on the perpetrators of human rights violations, does not reflect a genuine desire to combat impunity (see A/HRC/WG.6/5/CAF/2, para. 35). 36. However, it should be noted that proceedings have occasionally been taken against perpetrators, as happened in 2009, when 250 cases of human rights violations were brought before the courts, resulting in 80 convictions (A/HRC/14/24/Add.5, para. 45). 37. A mixed commission of inquiry was established by Decree No. 13-100 of 20 May 2013 to investigate crimes, offences and other human rights violations, and also crimes against property, committed since 2004. While this measure represents a positive step, a number of reservations should be made with regard to this initiative. 38. The mixed commission of inquiry lacks the necessary resources to carry out its mandate. It still does not have its own office but is based at the Court of Cassation, and it has no premises outside the capital. According to Human Rights Watch, the mixed commission of inquiry has no vehicles or logistical means of conducting investigations.20 Moreover, its independence is not guaranteed, as under article 9 of the Decree it is required to submit the original version of its report to the President of the Republic. 39. The issue of past human rights violations has still not been settled, though it has been addressed on various occasions in attempts at national reconciliation. The National Dialogue, held from 9 September to 27 October 2003, recommended that one of the six commissions of the National Dialogue Preparatory Committee — the commission on truth and reconciliation — should carry on working after the end of the Dialogue. However, this recommendation was not acted upon and, given that Security Council resolution 2127 (2013) requests the Secretary-General to establish an international commission of inquiry, it 18 19 20 8 E.G. Berman, “La République centrafricaine: Une étude de cas sur les armes légères et les conflits”, Small Arms Survey, June 2006, p. 26. United Nations Development Programme, “Programme de Désarmement, démobilisation et réintégration des éléments des groupes politico-militaires en République centrafricaine (DDR) – Rapport annuel janvier–décembre 2011”, pp. 3 and 11. Human Rights Watch, “I Can Still Smell the Dead: The Forgotten Human Rights Crisis in the Central African Republic”, September 2013, p. 73. GE.14-11122