COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD EXAMINES REPORT OF CHAD

Committee on the Rights of the Child
14 January 2009



The Committee on the Rights of the Child today reviewed the second periodic report of Chad on how that country is implementing the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Introducing the report, Ngarbatina Odjimbeye Soukate, Minister of Social Action and the Family of Chad, highlighted that, tried by several decades of civil war and armed conflicts exacerbated by the crisis in Darfur, Chad, despite its enormous potential in the area of natural resources, always figured among the poorest countries in the world, ranking 173 out of 177 on the [UNDP development index] rating for 2005. However, the Government of Chad spared no effort to improve the living conditions of its population, and the situation of women and children in particular. President Idriss Deby Itno, in dedicating his current mandate to social affairs, focused on improving the quality of life for Chadian children, as well as for all those living on the territory of the country, including those in refugee camps in the east and the south of the country.

The challenges facing Chad were the most daunting possible, but they could be met given determination – and Chad definitely had that resolve, Ms. Soukate underscored. A visit to Chad would suffice to demonstrate that – in the form of the numerous construction projects currently under way, building socio-sanitary infrastructure, school facilities and roads, without forgetting agro-pastoral work that was being done to try and address the global food crisis. Chad was aware that there was yet a long road to travel before it was able to provide a better life for its children, but it was possible to get there with the cooperation of all stakeholders.

In preliminary concluding observations, Jean Zermatten, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur of the report of Chad, noted some positive points, including projects coming to fruition and new information supplied by the delegation of Chad. There were also difficulties, and the first was poverty. In that sense the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the microcredit scheme and the focus on education were all welcome in improving conditions for children. On safety and security, it was extremely important that recruitment of children in all armed groups was stopped. Children had to be protected from the culture of violence and, in particular, schools should be a place for peace and education, not violence. The Committee also hoped that Chad would adopt the Hague Convention on adoption to help to regulate the current situation of orphans.

Other Experts raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, whether Chad had an independent national human rights institution dealing with children's rights for monitoring and hearing complaints; discrimination against children, in particular with regard to birth registrations for Sudanese refugees, and concerning different inheritance rights for boys and girls; a negative trend in the already very low children's health indicators; a significant decrease in funding for social spending, including education and health; a lack of guarantees for a child's right to be heard, in particular in the juvenile justice sphere; the situation of street children; a lack of progress in combating female genital mutilation; and the lack of a uniform definition of the child consistent with Article 1 of the Convention, as well as confusion with regard to the ages at which children were allowed to participate in various activities, such as labour and marriage. Several Experts also underscored serious concerns about care for AIDS orphans, the situation of refugee children and of children used in armed conflict and asked about measures planned to address their needs.

The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the second periodic report of Chad towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 30 January 2009.

The delegation of Chad also included representatives from the Ministry of Human Rights and the Promotion of Freedom; the Ministry of Solidarity and the Family; the Ministry of National Education; and the Ministry of Health of Chad.

As one of the 193 States parties to the Convention, Chad is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. The delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.

When the Committee reconvenes on Thursday, 15 January, at 10 a.m., it will consider the third periodic report of the Netherlands, including Netherlands Aruba and Netherlands Antilles (CRC/C/NLD/3

Report of Chad

With a population of 9.273 million in 2005, Chad remains one of the planet’s poorest countries, says the second periodic report of Chad (CRC/C/TCD/2). According to the UNDP Human Development Report 2005, Chad moved from 167 out of 177 countries in 2000 to 173 in 2005. Sixty-four per cent of the population lives below the poverty threshold; only 11 per cent of children aged 12 to 23 months have received all the vaccinations of the Expanded Programme on Immunization; 90 per cent of housing remains vulnerable to bad weather; only 1 per cent of the population has access to electricity and 23 per cent to drinking water; and less than 10 per cent of the population enjoys basic sanitation services. The education system has widespread geographical and gender disparities in terms of access to school and the quality of the teaching and learning. The gross rates of primary schooling are 75 and 51 per cent respectively for boys and girls. The infant mortality rate remains very high at 191 per 1,000 and 37 per cent of children under five years suffer from chronic malnutrition.

In response to the Committee’s concluding observations on Chad's initial report, the Government adopted a series of measures, such as Act No. 06/PR/2002 on the promotion of reproductive health. This Act provides for the freedom of responsible and sensible choice to marry, or not to marry, and to start a family, as well as for the right to information and education. Among others, it prohibits all forms of violence such as female genital mutilation, early marriage, domestic violence, and sexual violence against the human person. Moreover, the Criminal Code, revised in 2002 but not yet promulgated, addresses the suppression of attacks on the physical and moral integrity of women and children, in particular trafficking in children, sexual harassment, paedophilia, and incest. The decree giving effect to the Labour Code, which regulates child labour, was approved in 2004. A draft code on the protection of children is being prepared under the Chad-UNICEF programme of cooperation for 2006-2010 and the National Plan of Action to Combat the Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children was launched in 2005. In addition, a policy for the integrated development of young children was also prepared and approved in 2005, setting the goal of ensuring by 2015 that 100 per cent of children aged 0 to 8 years have had their birth registered, enjoy protection against violence, exploitation and discrimination, and are in good health and developing harmoniously in physical, cognitive, socio-affective and psychological terms. To this end, a project on the education of parents was carried out under the Chad-UNICEF programme of cooperation for 2006-2010.

Presentation of Report

NGARBATINA ODJIMBEYE SOUKATE, Minister of Social Action and the Family of Chad, said that, with a population of 9,053,356 inhabitants, 53.35 per cent of whom were under 18 years of age, it was easy to understand the importance Chad attached to today's encounter with the Committee.

Well-tried by several decades of civil war and armed conflicts exacerbated by the crisis in Darfur, Chad, despite its enormous potential in the area of natural resources, always figured among the poorest countries in the world, ranking 173 out of 177 on the [UNDP development index] rating for 2005, Ms. Soukate observed.

However, the Government of Chad spared no effort to improve the living conditions of its population, and the situation of women and children in particular, Ms. Soukate stressed. President Idriss Deby Itno, in dedicating his current mandate to social affairs, focused on improving the quality of life for Chadian children, as well as for all those living on the territory of the country, including those in refugee camps in the east and the south of the country.

The challenges facing Chad were the most daunting possible, but they could be met given determination – and Chad definitely had that resolve. A visit to Chad would suffice to demonstrate that – in the form of the numerous construction projects currently under way, building socio-sanitary infrastructure, school facilities and roads, without forgetting agro-pastoral work that was being done to try and address the global food crisis.

Chad was aware of that there was yet a long road to travel before it was able to provide a better life for its children, but Ms. Soukate underscored that it was possible to get there with the cooperation of all stakeholders. In that connection, Chad thanked the Committee on the Rights of the Child for its willingness to help them and for its frank collaboration.

Questions by Experts

HATEM KOTRANE, the Committee Expert serving as Rapporteur for the report of Chad, began by drawing attention to a number of achievements that Chad had made for children. In terms of legislation these included the promulgation in 2002 of the Act on the promotion of reproductive health, which prohibited all forms of violence, such as female genital mutilation, early and/or forced marriages, domestic violence and sexual violence. However, as recognized in Chad's report, the law was relative as no criminal sanctions were provided for. They therefore had to wait for the draft amended Penal Code, introduced in 2003, to be promulgated. There was also the amendment to the regulation on civil status, which was before the National Assembly, and the validation of the 2004 decree on the implementation of the Labour Code for the regulation of child labour.

Other progress included the ratification of a number of international human rights instruments, including the two Optional Protocols to the Convention and the African Charter on the Rights and Well-Being of the Child. In that regard, Mr. Kotrane asked whether there were any plans to become party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and The Hague Conventions on adoption?

Mr. Kotrane evoked the grave difficulties children were facing in Chad owing to the presence of armed conflicts on its territory, including reports of grave violations of children's human rights due, among others, to the intervention of the administrative and military authorities who were not well-trained on the obligations set out in international human rights instruments, including the Convention. The Police and Gendarmerie, for its part, acted as judicial authorities, handing down "sentences" which could not be appealed and carrying out the sentences themselves.

In this area, many texts remained on the drawing board, including the draft code of children's protection; the draft revised Penal Code; and the amendments to the Code on Persons and the Family, the revision of which seemed to be lagging. What steps were being taken to ensure those drafts became law? Also, given the scope of the problem of the involvement of children in armed conflict, what legislative or other plans were in the works to address that situation and to implement the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict?

Regarding the status of the Convention, Mr. Kotrane wished to know whether it had precedence over domestic legislation and if it could be invoked directly in the courts.

Finally, Mr. Kotrane asked for more information on actions that had been taken to disseminate information on the Convention among judges and other professionals dealing with children. The report had said many training courses had been organized on the Convention, but only mentioned a single workshop held for judges, in 2002.

Other Experts then raised a series of questions pertaining to, among other things, how coordination was effected to ensure children's rights at the national, district and community level; whether Chad had an independent national human rights institution dealing with children's rights; discrimination, in particular with regard to birth registrations for Sudanese refugees, and with regard to differential treatment between boys and girls concerning inheritance rights; a negative trend in children's health indicators; a significant decrease in funding for and social spending, including education and health, which were sectors that would directly benefit children; what was happening on the draft code of the person and the family; and whether there was a way to track what percentage of the budget was specifically targeted to children.

Other areas of concern for Experts included a lack of guarantees for a child's right to be heard, in particular in the juvenile justice sphere and in traditional settings; the situation of street children, and discrimination against them; whether there was a body to independently monitor the Convention; and if there was a body that could hear complaints by children.

Noting a lack of progress in combating female genital mutilation, an Expert pointed to the fact that there were no penalties for that practice in Chad, as well as an apparent lack of a national plan to combat it or to raise awareness on the harmful effects of that practice. The Inter-African Committee on Harmful Traditional Practice had been set up to fight that practice, but Chad had not participated.

An Expert said it was unclear what body was responsible for collecting data on children? If it was more than one body, who was responsible for coordination of that data?

An Expert was concerned that there was no uniform definition of the child consistent with Article 1 of the Convention. There was also some confusion with regard to the ages at which children were allowed to participate in various activities, including labour and marriage.

Response by the Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, the delegation noted first that since handing in the report there had been quite a few changes, and many of them had gone in the right direction.

Regarding concern expressed on the Inter-Ministerial Committee and what it did, the delegation reassured members that the Inter-Ministerial Committee was clearly effective. The Inter-Ministerial Committee, under the leadership of the Head of Government, was addressing cross-cutting children's issues. That involved eight ministries – the Ministry of Social Action and the Family of Chad; the Ministry of Education; the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Youth, Cultural and Sport; the Ministry of Human Rights; the Ministry of Labour; and the Ministry of Defence – which met every month.

In terms of the children and armed conflict, the delegation noted that the response had linked the three areas of the country that had been affected by armed conflict. A particular area of concern was the situation of street children in those areas. The Government tried to group together children that had participated in armed conflict into homes for rehabilitation. If the children decided to go back to their families, they were taken there, but in many cases it was a question of trying to find the families.

On differential treatment for girls and boys, the delegation said that was a legacy of their cultural heritage that was still a major force. But, with the help of civil society organizations, women were beginning to overcome the restrictions of the past and had access to media that showed them examples of other women who were making achievements. In the past only boys were sent to school, but that, too, was changing. The Government had declared that education would be free of charge and private institutions had been encouraged to lower their fees so more parents had been sending their female children to school.

Turning to violence in schools, that was a deplorable situation. That phenomenon could not be stamped out through simply passing a law. However members of civil society, including children, had come out to say that they would not tolerate violence in the schools. Children were able to form associations to do that, and women's associations were particularly active in a broad-based struggle against violence in the schools. Between the submission of the report and today notable progress had been made in this area, the delegation added.

Concerning resources, since Chad had found oil they had been able to open a number of programmes, in particular the National Solidarity Fund and a State Secretariat for Microcredits. Among victims particularly targeted for those benefits were AIDS orphans, the delegation said.

In planning the work of the Ministry of Social Protection and Women, this year the protection and development of young children and adolescents had been singled out for focus. Great progress had been made in the area of birth registration, which was now carried out free throughout the territory of Chad. There was a programme to totally overhaul the birth registration system, which was supported by the United Nations Development Programme. They had not received the compiled statistics on results yet, but the delegation could affirm that in certain areas the birth registration rate had gone up to 80 per cent.

With regard to children in refugee camps, not only was it the duty of the Government to protect them, but they had to have access to schools, had to be vaccinated against disease and had to be able to enjoy their rights, including under the international conventions to which Chad was a party.

The National Institute for Demographic Studies and Statistics was the agency on target for compiling data on children, according to 161 different indicators, the delegation added.

Further Questions by Experts

During the second round of questions, the Rapporteur turned to concerns about the situation of refugee children and children used in armed conflict and asked about plans or inter-party dialogue to improve security for children in conflict areas. Further, what measures were intended to address the culture of impunity that existed for armed groups?

Other Experts asked further questions on topics including, among others, the situation of children with disabilities; the high child mortality rate, which had not changed in 20 years; whether the budget for health had been increased for 2008 and what was planned for 2009; the high maternal mortality rate; low rates of school enrolment and high dropout rates; and care for children without family support, or who had to flee their families because of abuse.

An Expert asked for an update on statistics on HIV/AIDS. The last statistics they had had were from 2005, when there had been 18,000 HIV-infected children and some 96,000 AIDS orphans. Other information, such as the number of persons receiving antiretroviral treatment, would also be appreciated, particularly in view of the fact that the HIV/AIDS infection rate was increasing. Finally, what support was being given to orphans and how were their rights to health and education being enforced, in particular given the information in the report that only 7 per cent of AIDS orphans lived in families or households?

On juvenile justice, an Expert asked for confirmation of his understanding that, while there were juvenile chambers in the courts of first instance, there were no juvenile chambers in the higher courts? Also, was there a monitoring system to ensure the 10-hour time limit for keeping minors in custody was enforced? Other issues of concern were the separation of children from adults in detention, and whether alternative forms of sentencing to imprisonment, such as community service, were being considered for juveniles.

With reference to the Zoe's Ark scandal, in which there had been an attempt by a non-governmental organization to take children out of the country, which had been strongly opposed by the Government, an Expert was concerned to know what the Government was doing to implement adoption laws, a concern that had been voiced by the Committee nine years ago, including by becoming a party to the Hague Convention.

With regard to discrimination, an Expert singled out for concern the high prevalence of sexual violence against girls. Those crimes were seldom investigated and it was very rare for girls to receive financial compensation or other redress. In addition, if financial compensation was received it was sometimes paid out to the village elders rather than to the victim.

Other concerns were the sale of children for use as herdsmen and plans to prevent that sort of trafficking; health services for adolescents; reports that children were recruited into the Chadian National Armed Forces, including recruitment of children from refugee camps; and what was being done to combat the reportedly high level of gender-based violence girls were subjected to in the refugee camps.

Response by the Delegation

Responding to these questions and others, Ms. Soukate insisted, with regard to recruitment into Chad's Army, that the Army did not recruit children into its ranks. What happened was that when rebel groups reached a village, children whose parents were killed were forced to go and hide in the jungle. She had regularly toured the army barracks with the Army officials to ensure that no children were present in the army.

There were several forms of training – seminars and workshops – for magistrates on human rights. Sometimes they included staff from the regional police. The most recent training was carried out in 2007, during which 39 staff were trained.

On trafficking, there had been an Inter-Ministerial Meeting that had brought together the two regions involved, following which a regional agreement to combat trafficking had been signed in 2006. That meant that they had been able to set up six local protection committees, which were working well and denouncing cases of trafficking in children. They had also drafted a National Action Plan in this area in 2008 and a 2009 action plan was in the works which would involve all the partners in the Ministry of Social Action.

As to whether trafficking covered the sale of children as herdsmen, the delegation confirmed that the definition of trafficking was very broad. Violence, transport, sale – all of that fell into the category of trafficking. An Expert clarified that she meant to ask whether there were programmes and laws specifically targeting the issue of trafficking in children and the specific situations they faced – such as trafficking for domestic work or for use as herdsmen.

Turning to the definition of the child, the delegation noted that the definition of the child was contained both in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and those definitions were strictly adhered to. An Expert, in follow-up comments, disagreed that there was a single coherent definition of the child in Chadian law, in particular given that the Children's Code remained to be adopted. He also noted the discrepancy in ages of marriage for girls (17) and boys (18), coupled with the situation in the country, where reportedly 60 per cent of girls were married before age 16.

On street children, the delegation noted that the Criminal Code punished the abandonment of children. The Government was going to create a national fund to combat extreme poverty in Chad, which would go some way to address this problem.

Since the enactment of the ordinance in 2006 on civil status, birth registration was free and compulsory, the delegation said. It had been thought that the lack of registration was due to the lack of resources, as had been concluded by a study undertaken on the subject. They therefore believed that they had solved the problem now, and, indeed, the registration of births was now much higher than in the past. Once a child was registered it acquired real legal status and could participate in the Census or benefit from all the social services as a Chad national.

Here several Experts expressed serious concern about the fact that the delegation's statement appeared to imply that non-registered children had no legal existence and therefore no rights, particularly as most children in Chad remained unregistered. In addition, this statement exacerbated concerns about the situation of refugee children in Chad, who, because they were unregistered, not only did not appear to exist legally, but appeared not to even have the right to exist.

As for Sudanese children in Chad, the delegation said two things had to be kept in mind: first, that there was a conflict between Sudan and Chad; and, second, that any child born in Chad could become a Sudanese citizen. There were some programmes in place for registering children in the refugee camps.

Turning to juvenile justice issues, the delegation said that, according to law, minors could not be held in the same facilities as adults. Even in cases involving both adult and minor perpetrators they were remanded to separate facilities. Regarding torture, the delegation said that assaults against minors in custody were considered a criminal offence for major injuries and an offence in case of minor injuries. Here, an Expert intervened to recall that the report of Chad itself stated that minors were held together with adults in detention facilities (para. 264 "the police and gendarmerie services place minors held in custody in units intended for adults (74.3 per cent); the smallest children sleep in the yard or in dilapidated or abandoned offices").

As for sexual violence in refugee camps, the Government was doing all that it could to provide a safe environment in the camps, including via training of policemen to ensure security there. The perpetrators of such heinous acts were punished, if they managed to catch them, the delegation stressed.

With respect to education progress had been made in increasing enrolment, with the percentage of children enrolled increasing from 72 per cent in 2000 to 90 per cent today. The access of girls to schooling had also improved, from 52 per cent in 2000 to 63 per cent today. However, it could not be said that there was no disparity with regard to access. There were huge disparities. Those excluded included Nomads, children from islands and mountains, and girls, given the stereotypes that prevailed. With the help of UNICEF, the Government had developed a national strategy for the education of girls, which had sought parity in access to education for girls and boys by 2005. Admittedly, that target had not been reached.

Programmes to enhance capacity, including teacher training and the construction of 2,000 new classrooms, were under threat because of falling oil prices and a reduction in donor funds given the global financial crisis, the delegation said. Experts were confused here, because as they understood it, funding for social services, including education, had actually gone down in 2005 and 2006, which did not fit with keying the cuts in education spending to falling oil prices.

The delegation disagreed that the education budget had been cut. It might be that it was reduced with respect to the gross national product. There had been practically a doubling of revenues. The national education system, which in 2006 had involved some 30 billion CFA francs, now involved almost 90 billion CFA francs. An Expert countered that it was specifically the percentage of the budget that he was referring to – it was very important not to reduce the percentage of the budget that went to children's issues.

Concerning persons with disabilities, the Government was very clear on the rights of such persons and the Ministry for Social Action and the Family had a department for the integration of the disabled. Through its efforts, the old practice of hiding away disabled members of the family had been falling away. The Ministry made it clear that no shame should be associated when children were born with handicaps.

There was a Department for Social Action and National Solidarity within the Ministry for Social Action and the Family that provided direct support, counselling and advice to individuals, for example, pointing individuals in the direction of training programmes or that could help them or assist them in writing proposals for microcredit grants, the delegation said.

On health, the delegation said it was true child mortality was very high and had not changed in a decade, the delegation. An assessment carried out in 2005 and 2006 had found that there was a low access rate of the population to health services as well as underutilization of existing services. Following that assessment, a new national health policy was promulgated to cover 10 years, to 2017. A national implementation strategy had been developed and budget lines were being set up for that now. The strategy had been rolled out to three districts, and a follow-up assessment found that child mortality had improved by 10 per cent in those districts.

In addition, there were programmes to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus, which Chad was implementing with its partners, and antiretroviral drugs had been available free of charge since April 2007.

As far as orphans were concerned, there were currently 6,000 orphans being cared for thanks to a number of new initiatives, including shelter, free education and health care. Through the Ministry of Social Action help was also being provided to the families of AIDS orphans to assist them in finding income-generating activities.

The question of female genital mutilation was no longer taboo in Chad. It had been linked with combating HIV/AIDS and the fight against fistula, which, over the past few years had become more important. The link between HIV/AIDS and female genital mutilation was made because the same blade was used to excise several children, and in that way the AIDS virus could be spread.

On adolescent health coverage, the delegation said that the Ministry of Health had a division for school and university health and environmental health that was in charge of coordinating health structures for various scholastic institutions. Through that structure, adolescents were provided with health care.

With reference to independent monitoring for children's issues, the delegation said it was convinced that the National Human Rights Commission was independent. There were cases of serious human rights violations that were identified in the first instance by associations of human rights defenders that then made that information available to the Government. The delegation denied reports of human rights defenders being harassed or abused by Government.

The delegation affirmed that there was no special children's focus or unit within the National Human Rights Commission.

On adoption, and in response to a direct question as to whether Chad would adopt the Hague Convention in this area, the delegation said that all documents in that area had to do with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, so that was something for the Parliament to handle. They had had a very, very bad experience with the Ark of Zoe. That had really upset the smooth running of everything. That was where they were at this stage. They had to make sure that nothing like the Zoe's Ark episode occurred ever again.

With regard to the children sold as herdsmen, the delegation said the underlying problem there was clear: the poverty of the families. There was a large centre for the reintegration of those children and they were receiving rehabilitation services and training to do other jobs. Chad had this issue under control, the delegation insisted.

As to care facilities for orphans, the delegation noted that the Government's Centre of Hope for Children, which hosted about 60 children today, had hosted up to 400 children earlier, including street children. The Centre had been destroyed by fire and had been rebuilt in the 1990s with a reduced capacity for only 100 children. There had been problems when they had tried to host former child soldiers, who had trashed the Centre. There was another project in which the President himself was involved, that would accommodate 500 children. And it was hoped that, in future, there would be centres in every major city.

Preliminary Remarks

JEAN ZERMATTEN, the Committee Expert serving as co-Rapporteur of the report of Chad, in preliminary concluding remarks, thanked the delegation for their replies. There were some positive points, including projects coming to fruition and new information had been supplied.

There were also difficulties, Mr. Zermatten said, and the first was poverty. In that sense he welcomed the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, the Microcredit Scheme and the focus on education, which should all be focuses in improving conditions for children. Equally positive was that there were new resources coming from petrol. However the oil resources must not be the only source of funds for education. Both health and education needed regular budgetary funding.

On general measures regarding the implementation of the Convention, the issue of coordination had been debated at length, Mr. Zermatten noted. The Committee would like to see a sectoral programme that brought together the national plans and that the pending draft legislation would be adopted.

Regarding safety and security, recalling that Chad was a country with ongoing armed conflicts, Mr. Zermatten underscored that it was extremely important that recruitment of children in all armed groups was stopped. Children had to be protected from the culture of violence and, in particular, schools should be a place for peace and education, not violence.

The Committee also hoped that Chad would adopt the Hague Convention on adoption to help to regulate the current situation of orphans.

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