Central Africa Republic

Africa Programs

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Roland-Sylvestre DAWA is a Legal Lecturer and Researcher at the Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences at the University of Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR) and a Ph.D. student in International Relations, specializing in international politics at IRIC Yaoundé in Cameroon. He has participated in three AIPG online training courses and in-person training sessions on the prevention of genocide and identity-based violence.

In his capacity as an academic and human rights defender in CAR, Dawa has applied the knowledge and skills acquired during the training to organize training seminars with professionals involved in the prevention and repression of mass atrocities in CAR. This includes the Police, the gendarmerie, doctors, prison administration staff, and NGOs dedicated to mobilizing communities to combat identity-based violence. These actions were intensified in CAR, both before and after the 2020-2021 general elections, which witnessed a rise in hate speech in the country.

While lecturing at the University of Bangui, Roland-Sylvestre DAWA has also taken the opportunity to incorporate and share this knowledge with students who are also community leaders in their respective communities. He teaches courses on International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), focusing on the policies and strategies adopted by the AIPG to prevent mass atrocities and identity-based violence. He continues collaborating with the National Committee for the Fight Against Mass Atrocities in CAR.

In 2020, Dawa contributed to completing a case study commissioned by the AIPG on CAR. The study aimed to produce a document containing National Strategies and Legal Instruments for the Prevention and Punishment of Atrocity Crimes and/or Violence Based on Identity in the country. The case study was finalized and disseminated to students in CAR, NGOs, and other human rights activists.