About 65 per cent of schools surveyed were looted, occupied or damaged by bullets or shells, the agency said in a news release about the survey, which was carried out in August in 11 of the country’s 17 prefectures.

“A school is meant to be a safe space for teaching and learning, but in some areas there is nothing left,” said UNICEF Representative in CAR Souleymane Diabaté. “Without teachers, desks, textbooks – how can a child learn?”

Four out of five people said that fear of violence is the main reason students are reluctant to return to school. Almost half of the schools remain closed and students have lost an average of six months of schooling.

“Both the access and quality of primary education in the Central African Republic have severely deteriorated since the beginning of the crisis,” said Diabaté. “And if we do not act now, more children will lose the entire school year and are at risk of dropping out.”

UNICEF called on the CAR authorities to take concrete measures to support the permanent and safe return of all teachers and students to school.

Plagued by decades of instability and fighting, the CAR witnessed a resumption of violence last December when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized the capital, Bangui, in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee.

There is now a transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, entrusted with restoring law and order and paving the way for democratic elections. But armed clashes in the north-east have increased since the beginning of August, and the country is facing a dire humanitarian situation that affects the entire population of some 4.6 million.

UNICEF said almost 25,000 children affected by conflict are now in ‘catch-up classes’ to prepare for this year’s final exams, with an additional 40,000 children scheduled to re-start learning in the upcoming weeks.

Almost 20,000 students have received school supplies and schools have been received furniture which has already helped to re-open schools. UNICEF plans to support an additional 105,000 children to get back to their classrooms by the end of the year.

UNICEF’s 2013 emergency appeal of $11.5 million, issued before the crisis, has since tripled to $32 million. The agency has only received one third of the funding requested, and $21 million is urgently needed to provide education and emergency assistance to conflict-affected children and women in CAR.

The crisis that began last December has displaced more than 394,000 people within the country and sent another 64,000 people to neighbouring countries in search of refuge. Persistent insecurity, the absence of the rule of law and attacks against humanitarian personnel and assets continue to prevent life-saving assistance from reaching people in need, said Laerke.

However, UN humanitarian staff have been redeployed to five locations outside Bangui and mobile humanitarian teams are also on the ground and providing aid in Bossangoa, where there had been a recent flare-up in fighting between various armed groups.

Humanitarian partners have reached nearly 180,000 people with food assistance and nutrition programmes; 573,000 people have benefited from water and sanitation programmes; and more than 200,000 have received health support.

“We are seriously concerned over reported acts of killings, torture, arbitrary detention, gender-based violence, enforced disappearances, ‘mob justice’ and the pervasive climate of insecurity and the absence of the rule of law which have prevailed in the country in the last five months,” the human rights experts said, urging authorities to take immediate steps to put an end to all human rights violations and ensure there is no impunity for the perpetrators.

Violence erupted this past December in CAR – which has been marked by decades of instability and fighting – when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized the capital, Bangui, in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee. At present, CAR is governed by a National Transitional Council headed by Michel Djotodia and a transitional government formed in June.

“There have been a number of killings, sometimes in retaliation for incidents of ‘mob justice’ against members of the Séléka coalition. Some 46 cases are allegedly documented,” said the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns. “I call for a thorough, transparent and independent investigation of all suspected cases of arbitrary executions to identify and bring to justice those responsible.”

The Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, warned that “torture seems to be widespread in the country,” and called on authorities to make sure that every allegation of torture or of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is investigated by law enforcement officers.

Rashida Manjoo, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, stressed that there have been numerous cases of sexual abuse and rape reported in all of the localities that Séléka combatants have passed through.

“The State has a responsibility to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons,” Ms. Manjoo said. “Women and girls must be provided with access to medical, psychological, social and other assistance as well as to effective mechanisms of justice and to just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered.”

The UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances said it had also received allegations that a number of civilians as well as officers and soldiers of the official army (FACA) had been abducted by armed Séléka groups. On 14 April, a staff sergeant of the amphibious battalion and a first class soldier of the ex-presidential guard were reportedly arrested and brought to an unknown destination.

“Any act of enforced disappearance is an offence to human dignity and no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify this heinous crime,” the Working Group underscored.

Special rapporteurs are appointed by the Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

A spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists in New York that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the CAR, Babacar Gaye, met yesterday with local human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who informed him of systematic killings of civilians, rape and other violations by soldiers from the Séléka coalition.

“They also informed the Special Representative that human rights defenders were targeted and threatened by Séléka, and reported several attempts to remove evidence of abuses, looting and destruction of public property, occupation of schools and recruitment of children,” the spokesperson said.

Violence erupted in December 2012 when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized Bangui in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee.

Meanwhile, the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic, known by the acronym BINUCA, condemned last week of reports of multiple extrajudicial executions accompanied by torture and mutilation.

Among the identified victims is Ngombet Jerome, an accountant at the Association of Women Lawyers of Central (AFJC), a local NGO.

“These executions were carried on, in all likelihood, at routine checks in the open countryside and in the city of Bangui,” BINUCA said in a statement.

“The Mission called for an immediate stop to these serious violations,” it said in a statement.

BINUCA also called on authorities to immediately open an investigation to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, and to continue the process of securing Bangui, the statement added.

Speaking publicly earlier this month, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos urged national authorities to urgently re-establish the rule of law so that assistance and access can continue unimpeded, warning that the political crisis gripping CAR has affected its entire population of 4.6 million.

Over the past month, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its partners visited parts of the capital, Bangui, as well as other areas to assess the situation of people affected by the insecurity in the country, where the government was ousted three months ago.

“The findings are very troubling,” UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards told reporters in Geneva. “Overall, there remains a serious absence of security, and lawlessness is widespread.”

Staff on the missions received reports of arbitrary arrest and illegal detention, torture, extortion, armed robbery, physical violence including sexual violence, rape and attempted rape, abduction, restriction of movement, targeted lootings and attacks on civilians. Villages and houses had been burnt down in some areas by armed groups, he noted.

“Violence against women, girls and boys had also increased,” said Mr. Edwards, adding that humanitarian agencies have been giving assistance and counselling to victims in some locations.

Although schools have reopened in parts of CAR, in many areas they remain closed. Access to health and basic services is also very limited. Mothers with newborn babies in many areas have no access to medical care and new births are not being registered.

The dire humanitarian situation in the CAR has been exacerbated by fighting in the past six months which further deteriorated even the most basic services. Violence erupted in December 2012 when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized Bangui in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee.

Despite the volatile security situation, UNHCR and its partners are coordinating efforts to assist refugees – mainly Congolese and Sudanese nationals – living in camps in CAR.

UNHCR, along with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Medical Corps, has been able to distribute food to some 11,000 refugees.

In neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where over 40,000 CAR refugees have arrived, UNHCR continues to work with the national authorities to relocate refugees from the bordering areas into safer locations.

Nearly 60,000 people have fled CAR since December 2012. As more people continue to flee insecurity, the total number of refugees from CAR in the region now stands at over 220,000. UNHCR has recorded some 1,000 refugees arriving in DRC last month.

“The new Government must prioritise protection of and investment in the country’s education system, in order to respect and fulfil children’s basic right to education and to provide this generation of children with hope for a healthy future” says Souleymane Diabaté, UNICEF’s representative in the country, where there are over one million children out of school in total.

At least 250,000 children who started the 2012-2013 primary school year, and 30,000 who were in secondary school at the start of the crisis, could lose the entire school year if schools do not re-open in the coming weeks, the agency said in a news release.

Since the Séléka rebel coalition launched an offensive in December, 1.2 million people have been cut off from essential services and human rights violations have been widespread as the rebels, despite a peace accord, gained more territory and overran the CAR capital, Bangui, in late March.

According to UNICEF, the education system in the CAR was “very weak” even before the crisis. The literacy rate for young women is 27.4 per cent and for young men 51.1 per cent. Some 65 per cent of teachers are unqualified parents who have volunteered as teachers.

A major obstacle to school reopening is that teachers who have fled conflict affected areas have yet to return to their communities. In addition, the security situation prevents emergency distributions to schools for fear of pillaging.

UNICEF meanwhile is exploring options to provide safe spaces for children to learn and play in areas as they become accessible and is identifying areas that can be prioritized for resumption of educative activities.

The agency is calling on CAR authorities and all parties to the conflict to ensure safe access of children, parents and teachers to schools in order to enable their immediate re-opening.

Jeffrey Feltman, the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, assured CAR Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye yesterday of continued support for implementation of the Libreville Accords signed with a rebel coalition that ousted his Government from the CAR capital, Bangui, on 24 March, according to a UN spokesperson.

Since the Séléka rebel coalition launched an offensive in December, 1.2 million people have been cut off from essential services and human rights violations have been widespread.

At least 4.1 million people, almost half of whom are children, have been directly affected by the crisis and more than 37,000 people have fled the country in the past four months due to the violence.

The Libreville Agreements were signed on 11 of January in Gabon, and call for the establishment of National Transitional Council that would elect a transitional government. The rebels have claimed that the Government is not complying with its obligations under the accord.

According to the spokesperson, Mr. Feltman underscored Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s deep concern over the alarming situation regarding security and human rights in the country and the lack of public order and the rule of law.

He welcomed the Prime Minister’s public condemnation of violence and looting and urged him to exercise his leadership in helping to restore calm through the country.

Mr. Feltman also affirmed that the UN will remain engaged with the Central African Republic’s regional and international partners to provide humanitarian assistance, as security conditions permit.

Last week, Mr. Ban welcomed regional efforts and called on the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the African Union (AU) to take urgent measures to address the gravity of the security situation with the assistance of the international community.

In a news release, UNICEF said it had clear evidence of continuing recruitment of children, and warned that such practices represent a grave violation of international law.

“Recruiting children is both morally unacceptable and prohibited under international law,” said UNICEF’s Representative in the country, Souleymane Diabaté. “We have called on the new leadership in CAR to ensure that all children associated with armed groups should be released immediately and protected from further violations.”

Diabaté said the new authorities in the capital, Bangui, have shown their intentions to identify and release children among the ranks of armed groups, and stressed that UNICEF is committed to working with them to ensure that new recruitments stop immediately and that child soldiers are returned to their families.

UNICEF underlined that the current tension, insecurity and a lack of access by humanitarian workers to large parts of the country means that children are at greater risk than ever. However, it noted that only 25 per cent of the funds required to respond to the crisis have been received so far.

At least 4.1 million people, almost half of whom are children, have been directly affected by the crisis. Since December, 1.2 million people have been cut off from essential services, and human rights violations have continued even after the Séléka rebel coalition seized power on 24 March.

In addition, more than 37,000 people have fled the country in the past four months due to the violence. Most displaced persons have found asylum in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while other have gone to Chad and Cameroon.

The High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visited CAR refugees in a remote area of northern DRC, where his office (UNHCR) and its partners are providing assistance and protection.

“The needs of the refugees are significant, but access to the area is difficult,” UNHCR Spokesperson Melissa Fleming told reporters in Geneva. “We have been registering the refugees, distributing aid, setting up emergency shelters and working with partner organizations to provide health and education support.”

Fleming added that UNHCR is extremely concerned about regional stability, given the situation in eastern DRC and the crises in the CAR and Sudan’s Darfur region.

“Communities affected by the crisis are in urgent need of food assistance, protection, healthcare, and water and sanitation support and there are serious concerns about widespread human rights violations across the country,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update.

“The ongoing humanitarian efforts have been hampered by insecurity and limited access to people in need,” it added, calling on all parties to facilitate access for all aid workers who need to reach affected communities with life-saving relief items such as food, water, shelter and medical supplies.

As of last week, nearly 40,000 people had fled the country, and on Tuesday the head of the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in CAR (BINUCA), Margaret Vogt, told the Security Council via video link from Bangui, capital of the impoverished country, that a return to legality is extremely critical.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that the country’s entire population of some 4.6 million people, including over 2.3 million children, is directly affected by the conflict due to the collapse of services and law and order. UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the country have also been affected as they had their offices, vehicles and warehouses looted.

The country has been wracked by factional violence for years, especially in the north. Last month a group rebels entered Bangui and forced President François Bozizé to flee.

“Children in the Central African Republic were some of the most vulnerable in Africa even before the recent upsurge in fighting,” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF’s Regional Director.

“It is imperative to have full and secure access to communities affected by the conflict. With every lost day, every thwarted delivery and every stolen supply, more children may die,” Mr. Fontaine warned.

The Séléka overran the capital city of Bangui on 24 March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee. The developments were condemned by both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, which called on all parties in CAR to protect civilians.

This is the latest wave of fighting since December 2012 when the rebel coalition launched a series of attacks, taking control of major towns.

At least 4.1 million people, almost half of whom are children, are now directly affected by the crisis, which includes not being able to attend schools or getting enough to eat, UNICEF estimated in today’s news release. Since December, 1.2 million people have been cut off from essential services.

Earlier in the week, the UN agency said ten metric tonnes of emergency supplies were stolen from its main warehouse. The supplies included water kits, blankets, mosquito nets, plastic sheeting, and essential medicines and nutrition items for 30,000 of the most vulnerable people, specifically children and women, in the coming days and weeks.

“For every day we cannot deliver aid where it’s needed, there is an increased risk of disease and epidemics,” said Souleymane Diabate, UNICEF Central African Republic representative. “How will the Central African Republic ever move forward if essential humanitarian supplies are stolen from the people who need them the most?”

UNICEF reiterated its calls today on all parties in the conflict “to immediately stop the looting of humanitarian supplies, to ensure free and secure access of humanitarian actors to those in need, and to ensure that all involved respect humanitarian principles, human rights and the rule of law.

The time has come for the Séléka coalition “to really demonstrate how committed it is to humanitarian principles and human rights for all Central Africans,” said Mr. Fontaine.

“The needs and rights of children must be the priority for the new Government,” he added.

UN agencies, funds and programmes, including UNICEF, slimmed down their activities in CAR this week due to the insecurity, but still have a presence in the country.

“The protection of civilians is of the utmost importance,” said the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Zakaria Maiga.

“I call on all parties to provide security for the people of Bangui and everywhere in the country, to refrain from further escalation of violence, and to respect international humanitarian and human rights law.”

The Séléka overran the capital city of Bangui on 24 March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee. The developments were condemned by both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council, which called on all parties in CAR to protect civilians.

This is the latest wave of fighting since December 2012 when the rebel coalition launched a series of attacks, taking control of major towns.

Since then, an estimated 173,000 people have been displaced within the country, while more than 32,000 have fled to Cameroon, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“We are doing everything possible to step up humanitarian operations throughout the country and need safe access to people in need,” added Dr. Maiga.

Speaking from Bangui, Amy Martin, who heads the OCHA office there, said the security situation appears much calmer with less sporadic gunfire and more people out on the streets.

“Our main concern is getting the water supply back up and running. Getting the electric supply up and running is also critical to help keep the basic services and hospitals functioning,” Ms. Martin said.

The UN and partners are providing fuel to the hospitals, as well as medical supplies and emergency kits to support medical needs.

While some shops are open, Ms. Martin noted that banks, schools and government offices are still closed.

“People need to buy food. They need to access their money. They need to go back to work so they can get money to buy their food, so it is a huge chain event,” she said.

In the north of the country, Ms. Martin said the UN has “patchwork information” based on the presence of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and urged greater safety and security for civilians and for aid workers.

The UN has relocated 311 staff belonging to the world body and some NGOs, but is keeping international and national staff in Bangui to “deliver what we can with what we have available and to where we can get to.”

“Until we have security on the roads that permit us to get from Bangui to the interior of the country it is going to be difficult to say we are fully functional again and fully operational,” she added.

The fighting with Séléka is the latest crisis in CAR, which has a history of political instability and recurring armed conflict.

There are currently 1.5 million people in the country who need assistance, and the latest fighting will likely increase that number. According to OCHA, more than 80,000 people are estimated to be at risk of severe food shortages during the upcoming lean season, while 13,500 children under the age of 5 are at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

Ms. Martin said the situation is especially concerning with the agricultural season coming up, and aid workers cannot get seeds and agricultural inputs out to farming communities.

“We already had a fragile situation prior to the crisis so food security support was being planned for many in the north and the north-east,” Ms. Martin noted.

The insecurity makes it “very difficult to ensure that the harvest season will happen and that is critical for the nutritional status of children.”

The UN and the authorities in Bangui have asked donors for $129 million to fund the 2013 CAR humanitarian appeal. OCHA said the humanitarian response plan is now being revised to take into account the additional needs generated by the latest crisis.