Committee on the Rights of the Child gives preliminary response to report of Chad

AFTERNOON
HR/CRC/99/32
28 May 1999


Calls for Greater Efforts to Reduce Discrimination against Girls; Urges Aid for Former Child Soldiers


The Committee on the Rights of the Child offered preliminary conclusions and recommendations this afternoon on an initial report of Chad, calling, among other things, for expanded Government programmes to reduce discrimination against women and girls and to reduce disparities between conditions in urban and rural areas.

Committee members also recommended a more "integrated" and efficiently organized approach to implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child. And they said greater efforts should be made to help children recover from years of armed conflict in the country, during which many children had served as soldiers and others had been traumatized or disabled. It was noted that the recently ended civil war had left a proliferation of weapons and had led to a high level of violence in society.

Committee members added that much had been accomplished by the Government despite shortages of resources. A Government delegation appearing before the panel had described Chad as one of the poorest countries in the world.

Formal conclusions and recommendations will be issued in writing towards the end of the Committee's three-week session on 4 June.

Discussion over the course of the meeting -- the Committee's third on the Chadian report -- centered on special protection measures for children. Limane Mahamat, the Chadian Minister of Justice, said, among other things, that a high level of violence in society and a tendency towards delinquency among some children were a legacy of years of armed conflict, when many children had been drafted into rebel armies. Some children also had been abandoned by their parents and lived on the streets, he said. He added that recently passed law would create Chad's first juvenile court system.

As one of 191 States parties to the Convention, Chad is obligated to submit periodic summaries of its efforts to improve the circumstances and protect the rights of children. Government delegations generally appear before the panel to discuss these reports and to answer questions.

In addition to Mr. Mahamat, the Chadian delegation consisted of Djonata Djatto, Counsellor for Administrative Affairs, Jurisprudence, and Human Rights of the Office of the Prime Minister; Kaguer Darbo, Director of Judicial Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Motoyam Nanitom, Director of Child Protection of the Ministry of Justice; and Antoine Turzi, future Honorary Consul of Chad in Switzerland.

The Committee will reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday, 31 May, to take up a first periodic report from Nicaragua.

Discussion

The Committee and Government delegation focused their discussion on special protection measures for children.

LIMANE MAHAMAT, Minister of Justice of Chad, said a large number of refugees had come to Chad from Sudan and from several other African countries; among the refugees, unfortunately, were some children -- 10,800 children from Sudan, for example; attempts were made to provide them with education, although it was not always possible; Sudanese children were sent to existing Koranic schools when that was feasible; all children were vaccinated with the help of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and several non-governmental organizations. The Government tried to treat the refugees well and followed a policy of voluntary return.

There was a problem with juvenile delinquency in the country, he said; there were some 120 children in juvenile detention centers; the Government was trying to develop a consistent and effective policy for helping such children, especially children who had been abandoned by their families in many cases; those who ended up in prison were the ones who had committed serious crimes, such as murder; the trend was towards alternatives to incarceration. Unfortunately there was a climate of violence and there was a proliferation of weapons; many children unfortunately had served in rebel armies and had developed violent habits and were familiar with weapons. Most juvenile delinquents were boys. Many children were not sent to detention centers but to re-education centers and schools established by the State to prevent children on the verge of becoming delinquents from actually becoming so, Mr. Mahamat said.

A law to reorganize the judicial system and establish a juvenile court system had been passed in 1998, he said; UNICEF had assisted in the training of magistrates and judges for this court system; unfortunately there were not many qualified magistrates to date.

A minimum age for military service had not been established, Mr. Mahamat said. Laws were needed to establish such standards, but had not been developed yet.

There were some ethnic minorities, he said; some minorities had been marginalized, and their cultures and traditions were disappearing; there was on occasion discrimination against them.

There were problems with street children. One cause was parental neglect, leading children to leave their families. Police brutality, if reported and proved, led to action in the courts, and the Government intended to pursue such cases, but such offences often were difficult to prove, Mr. Mahamat said.

The Government was concerned about drug abuse, he said, although it was not widespread. There was heavy use of alcohol in some regions.

Not much had been done to help child soldiers re-enter civilian life and to help them with any trauma suffered; it was hoped that international aid would enable the Government to undertake such programmes, Mr. Mahamat said. There was no recruitment of children into the Chadian army; rather the trend in the official army was to demobilize soldiers; the Government was not recruiting soldiers. Many children also had been mutilated or injured during the civil war, and international aid was needed for treating them and civilians in general.

As much was being done as possible, given scarce resources, to establish and staff day-care centers and nurseries for children, and such projects were expanded each year, he said.

There were isolated cases of slavery and forced labour, although such practices were prohibited, Mr. Mahamat said. A number of complaints had been filed by NGOs charging supposed forced labour of children in military barracks in the north of the country, but Government investigations had not found them to be true.

School violence was a concern; the flood of arms that had come into the country during the civil war meant that weapons were available and sometimes children brought them to school; that was one reason the Government wished to have standards for searching children at schools; strict rules required expulsion from school of any children carrying arms. After 17 years of war, the country was trying to reduce levels of violence; children were taught about human rights, and teachers were taught to promote a culture of non-violence.

Reports of systematic rape by soldiers in disturbed areas were not in fact systematic -- there had been cases of rape, but it had not been systematic; the situation had been exaggerated, Mr. Mahamat said.

Deaths of children in custody were rare, he said; the Government considered them unacceptable; health services were provided to detainees, including children; detention facilities were being improved, although resources were limited and other matters had higher priority.

KAGUER DARBO, Director of Judicial Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the war had lasted some 30 years, and since 1979 more than 100,000 Chadians had been refugees; in 1975 a national association had been established to deal with refugees, both foreign refugees and Chadian refugees who were returning. Two years ago there were Chadian refugees in Cameroon, Nigeria, and several other countries; many had since returned, and international agencies had helped to re-integrate refugee children into society. Those who had suffered most were children. Many had been out of the country for 10 years. Rwandan, Congolese, Ugandan, and Sudanese refugees were in Chad; the Government had worked in cooperation with UNHCR to help children among these groups, including allowing them to go to school.

MOTOYAM NANITOM, Director of Child Protection of the Ministry of Justice, said violence by police against children had occurred, and so seminars had been held to educate police about the rights of street children, who usually were the victims.

A study had showed that child labour and economic exploitation of children occurred in urban areas; the Government was responding by conducting campaigns to inform parents of the potential for such abuse; it also was making efforts to keep children in school.

Preliminary conclusions and recommendations

Formal conclusions and recommendations on the report of Chad will be issued in writing towards the end of the Committee's spring session on 4 June.

Committee members offered a number of preliminary reactions, terming the report and dialogue honest and self-critical and citing among obstacles facing the Government a situation of widespread poverty and difficulties resulting from almost 30 years of war. Positive developments mentioned included creation of a national programme of action for children and passage of a law to establish a juvenile court system.

Committee members called, among other things, for a more integrated Government approach to implementing the Convention and monitoring the situation of children; for augmentation of Government programmes to eliminate discrimination against women and girls and to reduce disparities in the treatment of children between urban and rural areas; for strengthening of measures to eliminate traditional practices harmful to children, such as corporal punishment; for creation of special laws to help the disabled; for laws setting acceptable minimums for military recruitment and age of sexual consent; for greater efforts to end sexual abuse within families and in schools; and for additional efforts to meet the needs of children traumatized or disabled by the war, including former child soldiers.