A/HRC/26/53 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted under Human Rights Council resolutions 24/34 of 27 September 2013 and S-20/1 of 20 January 2014, in which the Independent Expert is requested to submit a preliminary report to the Council at its twenty-sixth session. In the present report, the Independent Expert gives an account of the human rights situation based on observations made and information collected during her two visits to the Central African Republic, undertaken from 4 to 14 March 2014 and from 10 to 18 April 2014. The report contains the recommendations included in her oral update (A/HRC/25/CRP.2) presented at the twenty-fifth session of the Human Rights Council on 26 March 2014. 2. The Independent Expert began her mandate with a mission to Geneva from 25 to 28 February 2014, during which she held talks with the Permanent Representative of Gabon in his dual capacity as Representative of Gabon and President of the Human Rights Council for 2014, the Permanent Representative of the Central African Republic to the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), the Permanent Representatives of France, Chad and the Republic of the Congo and the Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States of America, together with his team for the Central African Republic. She also met with the Permanent Representative of the African Union (AU), the Permanent Representative of the European Union (EU) and human rights experts, in order to hear their points of view. The Independent Expert also had meetings with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and several units of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 3. During her first visit to the Central African Republic, in addition to talking to highranking officials from the United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA), the Independent Expert met with the transitional Head of State, the Minister of Public Health, Social Affairs and Humanitarian Action, the Secretary of State for Rural Development, the Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Minister of Communication and National Reconciliation. The Independent Expert also had discussions with the Chief of Staff of the Minister of Justice, the public prosecutor and his deputies, leading politicians, elements of the ex-Seleka and anti-Balaka movements, women parliamentarians, the network of women leaders, the network of national human rights NGOs, young persons and displaced persons at the Mpoko camps and at the airport. She also talked to the Representative of the African Union (AU), the Head of the African-led International Support Mission in the Central African Republic (MISCA), the Ambassadors of France, Morocco, Cameroon, the Russian Federation and China to the Central African Republic, the Representative of the European Union (EU), the commander of Operation Sangaris and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the humanitarian community and the United Nations specialized agencies. 4. During that initial mission, she visited several sites, such as Ngaragba prison, where she was shown the cells and talked to nine detainees. She also visited the Mpoko 1 and 2 displaced persons camps. Outside Bangui, she visited Kaga-Bandoro, where she spoke with MISCA representatives. She also talked to 26 minor children saved by MISCA following an attack on the convoy that was transporting them northwards. Those children, four of whom have been reunited with their father, are currently being sheltered at the MISCA compound with the assistance of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the NGO Save the Children, while awaiting news of their parents and possible transfer to an appropriate reception facility. At Kaga-Bandoro, she had a chance to meet with the local commander, a former Seleka member, and with members of the anti-Balaka movement. She found from those meetings that, despite their belligerence, the victims of which were more 4 GE.14-03816