A/HRC/24/59 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 12 September 2013 Original: English Human Rights Council Twenty-fourth session Agenda items 2 and 10 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Technical assistance and capacity-building Situation of human rights in the Central African Republic Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights* Summary In its resolution 23/18, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit to the Council, at its twenty-fourth session, an interim report on the situation of human rights in the Central African Republic. In response to that request, the High Commissioner deployed, from 20 June to 11 July 2013, a fact-finding mission to the Central African Republic to collect information on human rights violations committed in Bangui and other localities between December 2012 and 11 July 2013. The fact-finding mission collected credible, reliable and corroborated information from victims, their families, witnesses, as well as various reliable sources in Bangui and several localities in Lobaye, Kémo, Ombella M’Poko and Nana-Gribizi prefectures where human rights violations had been reported. The mission faced considerable challenges and limitations owing not only to the constraints imposed by security requirements and logistics but also to the reluctance of victims and witnesses to testify due to their fear of reprisals, and was sometimes only able to obtain estimates on the number of violations reported. The mission examined allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by the former Bozizé regime and the non-State armed group, the Séléka coalition, during the armed conflict from 10 December 2012 to 23 March 2013. It also reviewed allegations of human rights violations committed after the Séléka seized power on 24 March 2013. * Late submission. GE.13-16953