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Hosted by the National Assembly of the Central African Republic

With the support of
the European Union (European Instrument for De mocracy and Human Rights),
the Governments of Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland
_________________________________________________________________________

BANGUI DECLARATION for JUSTICE and
the RULE OF LAW

We, the Members of Parliament who attended the Consultations on the Rule of Law & Justice
in the Central African Republic, held i n Bangui from 13 to 14 October 2011 under auspices of
the Central African National Assembly , are profoundly delighted to welcome this initiative of
the Parli amentarians for Global Action, International Law and Human Rights Programme,
and we wish to be engaged in the concrete realization of the following action -points , using our
parliamentary prerogatives regarding the control of governmental action, budget and
legislative initiatives:

1) On the role of the reinforcement of the Rule of Law and national judicial systems in the
peace consolidation

– The Rule of Law and Justice are considered priorities for funding by the International Community of
donors in pea ce -building and stabilization efforts

– The mandate of the configuration for the Central African Republic of the Peace Building
Commission (PBC) of the UN is fully realized in CAR and used as a reference for other
programmes in support of other countries by the international community with the aim to reinforce
the rule of law and the res pect of fundamental human rights;

– In reference to the situation in the Central African Republic, the recommendations formulated by
the “General Conference on Justice ” (Eta ts Gé néraux de la Justice ) of 2007 , renewed in the Decennial
Programme for Justice adopted by the Government in 2010, concerning the resolution of the most
important problems affecting the judicial system have to be fully implemented;

– Make adequate alloc ations to Justice and the Rule of Law insti tutions and mechanisms in the Budget
of the State (on which Parliament must decide and give approval to every year );

– Within the quantitative and qualitative framework of our National budgetary allocations to Just ice
and the Rule of Law, appropriate allocations are made to Magistrates (Judges and Prosecutors) to
safeguard the independent exercise of their judicial mandate (e.g. salaries, to ols, infrastructures and
staff );

Parliamentary Consultations on the Rule of Law & Justice in the Central
African Republic

National Assembly, Bangui, CAR
13 -14 octobre 2011

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– In the framework of international developm ent cooperation, data and statistics have to be made
available concerning the percentage of the aid which is dedicated to rule of law programmes, in
order to maximize the impact of these resources and being able to increase them according to
identified nee ds;

– In order to attain sustainable peace, long -term strategies have to be established, allowing Rule of
Law programmes protecting the rights and dignity of the population and respond to their request
for justice, taking into account the specific needs of the most vulnerable groups, such as women and
children.

2) On t he priority of putting an end to impunity and the use of th e “ICC process” as a catalyst
for law reforms

– The full and effective implementation of the Rome Statute provisions in our nati onal laws

– The u se of the Rome Statute standards on victims’ rights, criminalization of gender -based offenses
and offenses against children, general principles of law (e.g. individual criminal responsibility) and
other norms and standards to reform and mod ernize our national legal and procedural systems

To this effect, we are willing to use the assistance o f all development actors and of the PGA expert -Secretariat to submit
to our Parliament proposals for reform conce rning new laws and proposals of amendm ent to strengthen existing laws

– In respect of the situation in Central African Republic, the provisions on international crimes, the
general principles of law ( including universal jurisdiction , the principle aut dedere aut judicare and
command responsibil ity ) as well as i nternational cooperation for the fight against impunity – which
shall be fully integrated in the Code of Criminal Procedure of 2009 – shall be included in training –
courses, rules of engagement of all national security forces and security s ector reform s.

3) On the full and effective cooperation with the ICC

– Political support to the work of the ICC in fight ing impunity, in particular through full support for
the effective and prompt cooperation of our States in coopering with ICC, especial ly in the
execution of pending Arrest Warrants ;

– The promotion and support of any adequate , targeted initiative that shall bring about the arrest and
surrender to the Court of any person wanted by the ICC and present in the CAR territories, starting
with the leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) , with specific reference to a new AU initiative
for a joint arrest operation among DRC, CAR, Uganda and South Sudan and to the military support
of the United States, France, the European Union as wel l as othe r relevant stakeholder .

– The promotion of the National Prosecutions of International Crimes to complement the limited
cases so far presented before the ICC by the Prosecutor and to advance relevant cooperation with
neighboring countries (e.g. CAR -DRC bila teral cooperation on mutual judicial assistance and
extradition)

– The dissemination of the knowledge of the Rome Statute among our e lectorates and peoples to
maximize the dissuasive effect of the Rome Statute system and its impact on pea ce, democracy and
Human Rights through the fight against impunity.

Done in Bangui, 14 October 2011