A/HRC/45/55 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 42/36 of 27 September 2019 in which the Council renewed the mandate of the Independent Expert, appointed Yao Agbetse as the new Independent Expert and requested him to submit a written report at its forty-fifth session. 2. The present report covers the period from July 2019 to June 2020, during which the new Independent Expert carried out a visit to the Central African Republic from 3 to 13 February 2020. During his mission, the Independent Expert met with the Prime Minister, the Minister for Humanitarian Action and National Reconciliation, a representative of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Central Africans Abroad, the Minister for National Defence and Army Reconstruction, the Minister of the Interior, Public Security and Regional Government, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, the Minister for the Advancement of Women, the Family and the Protection of Children, and the Minister for Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Repatriation. He also met with the Speaker of the National Assembly, the President and members of the National Commission on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the President of the High Council for Communication and the President of the Special Criminal Court. 3. The Independent Expert also held discussions with the leadership and heads of the various entities making up MINUSCA, the United Nations country team, humanitarian workers and representatives of the diplomatic corps, including the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, the Russian Federation, France, the United States of America and the European Union. He also met with representatives of the United Nations agencies based in the Central African Republic, civil and military authorities, civil society organizations and international non-governmental organizations, the media, with whom a press conference was held, and any other person who could provide information on the human rights situation in the Central African Republic. 4. The Independent Expert also met with representatives of armed groups, civil society, political parties, including the opposition, human rights organizations and women’s and youth organizations, and religious leaders. Lastly, the Independent Expert visited the PK5 district, Ngaragba prison and Bimbo women’s prison in Bangui. 5. At the forty-third session of the Human Rights Council, the Independent Expert took part in the high-level interactive dialogue on the Central African Republic and highlighted the challenges related to the evolving human rights situation on the ground, focusing on the prevention of the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and the protection of their rights through their demobilization and reintegration. 6. Members of the Government of the Central African Republic also took part in the high-level dialogue, as did representatives of MINUSCA, the Special Rapporteur on Children and Armed Conflict of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the non-governmental organization (NGO) Enfants sans frontières. 7. Since the restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic had prevented the Independent Expert from carrying out his second annual visit prior to the submission of his written report, he organized teleconferences with a number of actors in the country, including MINUSCA, the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States, guarantors and facilitators of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to follow up on the human rights situation in the Central African Republic. 8. The Independent Expert also issued two press releases on the political situation and the prevention of human rights violations and abuses in the context of health measures to combat COVID-19. GE.20-10998 3