A/HRC/30/59 of addressing them. The idea was to establish a new social contract for the Central African Republic. 16. The Bangui Forum adopted the Republican Pact for Peace, National Reconciliation and Reconstruction, which reaffirms, inter alia, the need to create conditions conducive to holding a constitutional referendum and free an d transparent general elections throughout the country as soon as possible, and calls for the effective establishment of the Special Criminal Court. 17. With regard to human rights and justice, the Republican Pact affirms the need to strengthen and respect the constitutional provisions on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, without discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, ethnicity or religion, and to guarantee freedom of movement throughout the country. It calls for the establishment of a national human rights institution and a transitional justice mechanism, including a truth, justice, reparation and reconciliation commission. 18. The Bangui Forum also led to the signing of an agreement on the principles of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and a further agreement under which the armed groups committed themselves to stop recruiting children and to release all child soldiers associated with their groups. 19. In a press release issued on 13 May 2015, the Independent Expert welcomed the adoption of the Republican Pact and urged all stakeholders to fulfil their commitments in order to pave the way for reconciliation and the restoration of lasting peace. 20. The constitutional review process is also under way, and a preliminary draft was adopted by the Transitional National Council on 17 February 2015. The Republican Pact includes a number of important recommendations concerning the Constitution, which should be taken into account by the Government and the Transition al National Council. The new Constitution is expected to be adopted by referendum on 4 October 2015. 21. On 22 April 2015, the Transitional National Council adopted the law on the establishment of the Special Criminal Court, which was then promulgated on 3 June. Pursuant to this law, the Court has the power to investigate any serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in the country since 1 January 2003 and to hear and rule in such cases. 22. In June, the Government announced a new electoral calendar, according to which the first round of presidential and parliamentary elections is to be held on 18 October 2015 and the second on 22 November. In preparation for the elections, voter registration will take place from 27 June to 27 July. B. Security context 23. The overall security situation has improved since the arrival of the MINUSCA, Sangaris and EUFOR RCA forces. With regard to MINUSCA, the Security Council, in its resolution 2217 (2015), authorized the deployment of 12,870 uniformed personnel, including 2,120 police officers. Their deployment, initially in Bangui and then progressively throughout the rest of the country, was followed by the deployment of State civil servants, though on a small scale. 24. In Bangui, anti-balaka militias continued to threaten residents’ safety on a regular basis. The arrest by MINUSCA of one of their leaders, Rodrigue Gaïbona (also known as Andilo), on 17 January 2015 was followed by several hostage -taking incidents in Bangui. A French humanitarian worker was kidnapped on 19 January and subsequently released on 23 January; a MINUSCA employee was briefly abducted on GE.15-12489 7/22