CHAD: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Chad's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
Article 222 of the Constitution of Chad provides that properly ratified and published treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have superior authority to domestic laws of Chad, with the exception of the Constitution. In principle, therefore, the Convention should be applied where it conflicts with domestic legal provisions. It is not clear, however, whether the Convention has ever been cited in a Chadian court.

Constitution: Chapter I of the Constitution of Chad contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but only a small number that specifically address the rights of children:

• Article 36: requires the State and the Decentralised Territorial Collectivities to establish the conditions and institutions to assure and guarantee the education of children
• Article 38: recognises a natural right and duty of parents to education their children, while requiring the State and Decentralised Territorial Collectivities to provide support. The article also permits children to be separated from their parents of from other persons “who have them in charge” only when they fail in their duty.

Legislation: there is no comprehensive or consolidated Children's Act in Chadian law. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to:

• The Criminal Code
• Act No. 38 of 11 December 1996 containing the Labour Code
• Act No. 06/PR/2002 on the promotion of reproductive health
• Act No. 016/PR/06 on the education system
• Act No. 07/PR/99 of 6 April 1999 concerning criminal procedures for children aged 13-18
• Act No. 04/PR/98 of 7 August 1998 on the organisation of the Judiciary
• Ordinance No. 6-67 on reform of the judicial system
• Ordinance No. 03/INT of 2 June 1961 regulating civil status
• Ordinance No. 001 of 16 January 1991 on the minimum age of recruitment into the army

Legal Research
At the time of writing, the National Assembly of Chad did not maintain a website. The legitchad website provides access to national legislation in French (http://www.cefod.org/legitchad/web/) as does the International Labour Organisation website, NATLEX, (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=TCD) and the World Law Guide website (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxwetch.htm). In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Chad (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Chad1.htm) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2715.html) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/chad.php) both provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources.

Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national law that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case Law Research
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any online resources that provide access to the case law of Chad's courts.

Compliance with the CRC
In its Concluding Observations of 2009, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted with interest the drafting of legislation in relation to children's rights, including a Child Protection Code, Code on the Person and the Family and a draft Penal Code, but expressed regret that these drafts had not been adopted. The Committee urged the State to expedite the adoption of legislation aimed at harmonising national law with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In depth analysis
Reflecting the general observation that the State party had been slow to adopt laws to protect children's rights, the Committee highlighted a number of more specific areas of national law that did not meet the standards set by the Convention. The Committee noted a number of areas of domestic law which lacked the necessary legislation to protect children's rights. Specifically, the Committee expressed concern that there was no definition of torture in the Penal Code; that corporal punishment was forbidden in schools but remained lawful in the home, alternative care and as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions; and that customary “intra-family” adoption was not regulated by law.

While welcoming the introduction of legislation addressing harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, early marriage and sexual violence, the Committee expressed concern that the Law on the Promotion of Reproductive Health nominally prohibited these practices without providing for sanctions. The Committee urged the State to include penalties for abuses of children's rights within such legislation and to ensure that perpetrators of such violence are brought to justice.

The Committee also raised wide ranging concerns over the treatment of children in the justice system, including with regards to the lack of effective monitoring of pre-trial detention, the detention of children with adults and the length sentences of imprisonment that can be applied to children (up to 10 years). The corresponding recommendations urged the State to take steps to ensure children are only detained as a measure of last resort and for the shortest time possible, that children are not ill-treated in detention and that standards are met for children held in pre-trial detention.

Current legal reform projects
A draft Child Protection Code was under development as of November 2010, but had not been enacted at the time of writing. As of Chad's 2009 report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Penal Code was also under review, but it is not clear whether this process has been completed.