Central African Republic
Military: Central African Republic
Military branches:
Central African Armed Forces (Forces Armees Centrafricaines, FACA): Ground Forces (includes Military Air Service), General Directorate of Gendarmerie Inspection (DGIG), National Police (2011)
Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age for selective military service; 2-year conscript service obligation (2012)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 1,149,856
females age 16-49: 1,145,897 (2010 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 655,875
females age 16-49: 661,308 (2010 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 54,843
female: 53,999 (2010 est.)
Military expenditures:
country comparison to the world: 50
Transnational Issues: Central African Republic
Disputes - international:
periodic skirmishes over water and grazing rights among related pastoral populations along the border with southern Sudan persist
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 10,662 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2012)
IDPs: 206,000 (clashes between army and rebel groups since 2005; tensions between ethnic groups) (2013)
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Central African Republic (CAR) is a source and destination country for children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking and possibly women subjected to forced prostitution; most victims appear to be CAR citizens exploited within the country, and that a smaller number are transported back and forth between the CAR and Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan; children are forced into domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation, agricultural labor, mining, and street vending; armed groups operating in the CAR, including the Lord's Resistance Army, continue to recruit and use children for military activities, while village self-defense units use children as combatants, lookouts, and porters
tier rating: Tier 3 - Central African Republic does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government does not investigate or prosecute any suspected cases of human trafficking, including the use of child soldiers; the government also fails to identify, provide protection to, or refer to service providers any trafficking victims; in collaboration with an NGO, the government has convened a working group to develop a national action plan to combat human trafficking (2013)