Central African Republic is on the brink. Call for UN Peacekeepers

The Central African Republic is on the brink of a human catastrophe. Since the Seleka coalition of armed groups ousted President François Bozizé and took power in March, violence in the country has spiralled out of control.

• Join our Twitter action calling for UN peacekeepers

Thousands of families have fled their homes. Hundreds have been deliberately killed and thousands tortured and raped - with total impunity - by members of security forces and armed groups alike.

In a crucial vote this week, the UN Security Council is expected to give French and African Union troops already on the ground the mandate they need to rein in the armed groups responsible for the violence.

This is a start, but what is really needed is a robust UN peacekeeping operation to ensure the effective protection of civilians and help reduce the risk of serious human rights violations.

That’s why we’ve launched a Twitter action today. We need your help right now to bring an end to the violence and chaos in the Central African Republic.

What you can do – join our Twitter action

France, the US and UK are crucial in the UN Security Council vote. Please send a message to William Hague, John Kerry and Laurent Fabius and ask them to back our call for UN peacekeepers.

To send a tweet, just choose your message and press the button. Or you can write one yourself – please copy in all three Ministers, and use the tag #CARcrisis.

TweetUNSC must provide immediate support for AU&French troops #CARcrisis @StateDept @WilliamJHague @LaurentFabius http://amn.st/1gB2coX  !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

TweetImmediate and longer term UN peacekeepers = solution in #CARcrisis @StateDept @WilliamJHague @LaurentFabius http://amn.st/1gB2coX!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

TweetUNSC must act now and send UN peacekeepers immediately to stop #CARcrisis @StateDept @WilliamJHague @LaurentFabius http://amn.st/1gB2coX

And please encourage your friends to join our call:

Tweet

The Central African Republic needs UN peacekeepers now  - join @amnestyUK's Twitter action

Our recommendations to the UN Security Council

We are calling on the UN Security Council to:

• Immediately support African Union and French troops already in CAR through the deployment of a robust peacekeeping force to protect civilians, including internally displaced persons and refugees, and stop the downward spiral into a human catastrophe of epic proportions.
• Ensure the peacekeeping force has the resources it needs to effectively protect civilians, including internally displaced persons and refugees, in full compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
• Take transitional measures to stem the violence. The international community should support a proposal by the UN Secretary-General to draw in troops from UN peacekeeping missions in neighbouring countries until the full UN peacekeeping mission can be deployed in the Central African Republic.