CHAD: Children and Armed Conflict

Submitted by crinadmin on Tue, 03/04/2012 - 13:24

Summary: The information below is based on the 2011 report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council (A/65/820-S/2011/250) issued on 23 April 2011. More information is available in the report.

Scroll down for UN documents on Children and Armed Conflict in Chad.

The slow but progressive improvement in the security situation in 2010, and the normalization of relations between Chad and the Sudan contributed to a decrease in the number of reported cases of child recruitment in Chad, compared to 2009. JEM was less visible and present in the refugee camps in eastern Chad; no new cases of child recruitment by JEM were reported to have occurred after May 2010. Furthermore, between May and August 2010, at least 40 former child combatants allegedly recruited by JEM prior to 2010 returned to the refugee camps. Prior to May, the recruitment of Sudanese refugee children by JEM from north-eastern Chad had been reported. Information corroborated by various sources pointed to local refugee leaders who in some cases acted as “facilitators” in the recruitment process.

On 17 September, a group of Sudanese men reportedly attempted to recruit children and youth from the Goz Amer refugee camp (Dar Sila region) to join the SLM/A. The recruiters targeted boys and girls, some as young as 12 years old. Although the group was reported to have enlisted at least 207 refugees, most of them children, they were prevented by the Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS) from taking the recruits with them, and the perpetrators were subsequently arrested by Chadian authorities.

Only eight allegations of child recruitment by the Armée nationale tchadienne (6 Sudanese refugee children from north-eastern Chad and 2 children among displaced communities in the Goz Beida area of south-eastern Chad) were received in 2010, compared to 26 cases in 2009. In addition, between May and August 2010, the presence of children within Armée nationale tchadienne forces was also observed in Adré, as well as within mobile brigades of the Armée nationale tchadienne in the border areas of Goungour and Sawa, Assoungha department. The number of cases documented were isolated and allegedly carried out by low-ranking officers. In response, the Government, with the support of the country task force on monitoring and reporting, organized training sessions to build and reinforce the capacity and knowledge of rank-and-file officers of the Armée nationale tchadienne on child rights and child protection, in line with international norms and standards.

Children were also identified within several Chadian opposition armed groups, including those that joined Government forces following the signature of several peace agreements (peace agreements of July 2009 with Mouvement national; with Front démocratique populaire (FDP) of December 2009, and with MDJT of May 2010). For instance, 13 boys between the ages of 14 and 17 were identified among the 60 FPRN combatants captured by the Armée nationale tchadienne during the fighting between Armée nationale tchadienne and FPRN in April 2010. Furthermore, according to information received from the local population, children allegedly remain associated with FDP, whose forces are armed and stationed in the Central African Republic/Chad/Sudan border triangle; and MPRD in the hills of Korbol in Moyen-Chari.

Children represented the majority of victims of explosive remnants of war in 2010. Of the 17 incidents reported in the four eastern regions (Ouaddai, Wadi Fira, Dar Sila and Salamat), 14 involved children (all boys), and 2 were fatal. In addition, access to the Tibesti region, an intensely mined area occupied by MDJT was possible as a result of the peace agreement between the Government of Chad and MDJT. Demining activities by the Government, as well as mine education campaigns were carried out in the last quarter of 2010. Despite these efforts, the prevalence of mines and explosive remnants of war in Chad has been understated. With the departure of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) and the termination of its mine and explosive remnants of war clearance and road verification programmes, there is a serious risk that incidents of killing and maiming of children by explosive remnants of war may increase.

Sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls continued to be a widespread phenomenon in Chad. Perpetrators include members of armed groups and the Armée nationale tchadienne, but the majority of incidents were perpetrated by civilians. Two observations may be made from sexual and gender-based violence data collected in Chad by the United Nations. First, there is an ascending trend of reported sexual and gender-based violence cases among refugees, with 295 cases in 2006, 512 cases in 2007, 656 cases in 2008, 860 in 2009 and 650 by midyear 2010. This may not necessarily indicate that sexual and gender-based violence cases have increased, but rather the result of increased reporting owing to sustained work on sexual and gender-based violence. Second, it may reveal a behavioural change evidenced by survivors and their relatives willing to report cases. While underreporting remains a concern, particularly for rape or attempted rape cases, this trend may indicate growing trust in the protection mechanisms established by international actors, in close coordination with the communities, and in DIS.

Of the 650 cases of sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women and girls recorded by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the first semester of 2010, nearly 30 per cent of victims were children, including children as young as 3 years old. Gender-based violence assaults, rapes and attempted rapes, including by members of the armed forces, were documented. Within the host population, two cases of rape against children by members of the armed forces were also documented. Impunity related to sexual and gender-based violence cases, particularly when the perpetrators are soldiers of the Armée nationale tchadienne, remains a major concern.

During 2010, 11 security incidents and attacks against humanitarian workers were recorded. This was attributed to three factors: DIS, with the support of MINURCAT, increasingly providing escorts and being able to react relatively promptly; the creation of the joint Chad/Sudan monitoring force and its deterrence effect; and the fact that other security forces, including the Armée nationale tchadienne and Gendarmerie, intensified their efforts to pursue and apprehend perpetrators. However, this decrease came after a spate of serious security incidents in June 2010, including carjackings, kidnappings and abductions. As a result, one international NGO withdrew its international staff from eastern Chad and three others partially suspended their operations. In order to continue protection for humanitarian operations in view of the withdrawal of MINURCAT, the Government created the Bureau de sécurisation et de mouvement in six different locations (Abéché, Bahai, Guéréda, Iriba, Koukou, Goz Beida) to provide additional security to the humanitarian actors.

As part of its efforts to address the recruitment and use of children, the Government of Chad organized a regional conference in N’Djamena on ending the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and groups in June 2010. Bringing together representatives of Chad, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Niger, Nigeria and the Sudan, the conference culminated in the signing of the N’Djamena Declaration, by which Governments committed to, inter alia, end child recruitment and use by armed forces and armed groups; establish a strategy to fight arms proliferation; implement relevant regional and international instruments on child rights and child protection; and harmonize national legislations.

Information on progress made by parties to conflict on dialogue and action plans to halt the recruitment and use of children, patterns of killing and maiming of children or rape and other forms of sexual violence against children in armed conflict.

The Government of Chad expressed its intention to prepare and implement an action plan to address the recruitment and use of children by the Armée nationale tchadienne in a meeting between my Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and the Minister of Social Action, National Solidarity and Family in October 2010. A draft action plan has been prepared and is currently being discussed with the Government.

Information on progress made in the release of children from armed forces and armed groups

One hundred and eighty-one children, including 25 girls, were released by the following armed opposition groups during the year: Front pour le salut de la République (FSR); Front uni pour le changement (FUC); Mouvement national pour le redressement (MNR); Rassemblement des forces pour le changement (RFC); Conseil démocratique et révolutionnaire (CDR); Union des forces de la résistance (UFR); Union des forces pour la démocratie et le développement (UFDD); Union des forces pour le changement et la démocratie (UFCD); Front populaire pour la renaissance nationale (FPRN); Mouvement pour la démocratie et la justice au Tchad (MDJT); Union des forces pour la démocratie et le développement-Fondamentale (UFDD-F); Mouvement pour la paix, la reconstruction et le développement (MPRD) and JEM.