Amnesty International Report 2014/15 - Chad
Publisher | Amnesty International |
Publication Date | 25 February 2015 |
Cite as | Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 2014/15 - Chad, 25 February 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/54f07e09c.html [accessed 22 May 2023] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Republic of Chad
Head of state: Idriss Déby Itno
Head of government: Kalzeubé Payimi Deubet
Serious human rights violations continued to take place with almost total impunity. The rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly were frequently violated. Human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists were victims of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and detention. People, including protesters, were killed by members of the security services during demonstrations.
Background
Issues related to economic, social and cultural rights were of great concern throughout the year. Across the country, people, including civil servants, organized demonstrations demanding pay increases and denouncing the high cost of living. Chad was hosting more and more refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan and recently Nigeria, putting pressure on the already scarce resources and creating tensions within the communities, especially in south, east and northwestern parts of the country. Individuals responsible for committing human rights violations, including members of the police, the gendarmerie and the National Intelligence Agency (ANS), continued to do so with almost total impunity.
Impunity
Members of the army and the Chadian component of the then African Union mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA), who were involved in killing civilians and other serious human rights violations in the CAR, had impunity after they withdrew from MISCA on 3 April. On 29 March, Chadian troops opened fire at a crowd in a market in the PK12 district of Bangui, the capital of the CAR, killing and wounding dozens of people. Chadian troops were involved in other incidents including killings of civilians in the towns of Boali, Damara and in PK12 in February. On 19 July, President Idriss Déby appointed the Chadian rebel leader Abdel Kader "Baba Ladde" as préfet of Grande Sido prefecture at the border with the CAR. He was appointed despite the fact that he and members of his armed group Popular Front for Recovery (Front Populaire pour le Redressement, FPR) had been accused of serious human rights abuses including the recruitment and use of child soldiers in northern CAR. They had also been accused of setting fire to villages in northern CAR between January and July. He later fled Chad and on 10 December, he was arrested by UN peacekeepers near the town of Kabo in northern CAR, at the border with Chad. He was arrested on an arrest warrant issued by judicial authorities in Bangui in May and remained detained in the prison in Bangui at the end of the year.
Arbitrary arrests and detentions
According to the UN Panel of Experts on CAR, three civil servants from the CAR, namely the sous-préfet of Markounda, the secretary-general of the sous-préfecture and the director of a public school, were arrested by Chadian security forces in the CAR on 17 May and taken to N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The three were not released despite several requests from the CAR authorities.
On 23 June, two members of the UN Panel of Experts on CAR were arrested by Chadian defence and security forces at a border post in the CAR while conducting investigations. The UN Panel reported that its experts had identified themselves, explained their mandate, privileges and immunities but that they were forcibly driven from the border post to the town of Goré in Chad where they were detained for four hours, before being escorted back to the border and released.
Prison conditions
Conditions remained harsh in most of the country's prisons. According to witnesses, conditions were worse in detention facilities where visits were not allowed. These were run by the police, the gendarmerie and the national security services. N'Djamena remained without a prison after the demolition of the city's prison in December 2011. Detainees were held in a former gendarmerie barrack compound in Amsinéné on the outskirts of the city.
Harsh conditions in prisons frequently led to prison escapes and revolts. On 4 November, a revolt erupted in Amsinéné prison after the prison authorities had not allowed some prisoners to stay in the prison courtyard and forced them to stay in cells instead. In solidarity with the punished inmates, other prisoners gathered in the main courtyard. The gendarmes guarding the prison started shooting at the prisoners. According to various sources, at least one prisoner was killed and several others wounded.
Freedom of expression
Human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists regularly faced violations of their right to freedom of expression. They were frequently intimidated, harassed or arbitrarily arrested by security service officers and administrative authorities.
On 8 October, community Radio FM Liberté was suspended for seven days following a decision by the High Council for Communication. The station had broadcast a statement signed by 12 human rights NGOs criticizing the absence of fuel on the market.
Freedom of assembly
Trade unions and political and human rights groups were frequently denied the right to peaceful activities or protests. Most demonstrations were violently disrupted by security forces.
On 11 November, protesters, including teachers, demonstrating against the high cost of living in N'Djamena and the towns of Moundou and Sarh, were attacked by security forces. According to various sources, at least one person was killed and several were wounded after being shot.
Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people
The government proposed a draft bill amending the penal code to criminalize same-sex conduct between consenting adults with jail sentences of between 15 and 20 years, and a fine of 50,000 to 500,000 CFA francs (US$100 to 1,000). The bill was not passed into law at the end of the year.
International justice
At the end of the year, the Extraordinary African Chambers (the Chambers) in Dakar, Senegal, was finalizing its investigation into alleged crimes by the former Chadian President Hissène Habré. The Chambers indicted him in July 2013 and, if the investigating judges decided that there was sufficient evidence, his trial would be scheduled to start in May 2015. Habré's reign from 1982-1990 was marked by serious human rights violations, including torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions.
On 14 November, the trial of 26 former state security agents connected to the Habré era commenced in Chad. International and local human rights organizations expressed concern that the trial could undermine the upcoming trial of Hissène Habré in Dakar, Senegal. In October, the Chambers requested Chad to send these suspects to Dakar but Chad declined to transfer them and refused another request by the Chambers to travel to Chad to interview them. There were also concerns from the victims and human rights organizations that the trial may not meet international fair trial standards.
Refugees' and migrants' rights
Despite efforts by the international community and the authorities to assist the tens of thousands of people who recently fled into the country from the CAR and Nigeria, their living conditions remained dire. Shelter, food and medical facilities were needed by more than 150,000 refugees and Chadian returnees. Most of them were living in camps in southern Chad near the border with CAR. Throughout the year, violence caused by the armed group Boko Haram in Nigeria also forced thousands to flee to Chad, mostly to the area near Lake Chad; 368,000 refugees from Darfur were living in refugee camps in eastern Chad. Some 97,000 refugees from CAR who fled their country stayed in camps in southern Chad.
On 8 August, the authorities of Logone Oriental province in southern Chad forcibly and without prior notice relocated people from the Doba transit site to another site in the village of Kobitey.