About the Crisis in CAR

The Central African Republic, a landlocked country with roughly the size of Texas, has struggled with armed conflict and instability for many years. In 2013, an outbreak of violence between armed groups forced more than 640,000 people to flee the country in search of safety and an additional 630,000 were internally displaced (IDPs). The majority of those who fled the country sought refuge in neighboring countries, such as Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo, with smaller numbers in Sudan and South Sudan.

Today, CAR continues to experience sporadic surges of violence - the most recent in December 2020 after a troubled election which displaced more than 200,000 people in less than two months. These recent displacements bring the number of displaced Central Africans to over 1.5 million, representing almost a third of the country’s total population.    

What is UNHCR doing to help Central African refugees?

The UN Refugee Agency is advocating at all levels for the safety and security of all civilians and ramping up lifesaving assistance to support those who have been forced to flee.

Inside CAR, UNHCR focuses on delivering shelter and basic relief items to support the growing number of IDPs and, in neighboring countries, it assists new arrivals while building refugee’s livelihoods and ability to sustain themselves. It is also working with other humanitarian partners to support protection activities and humanitarian assistance throughout the region.

After the most recent outbreak of violence, UNHCR has also started working in close collaboration with the DRC government to register more than 1,000 new arrivals per day and has pre-positioned emergency supplies in certain hard-to-reach areas of the country prone to becoming inaccessible during the looming rainy season.

Learn more about What We Do.