Victim assistance action points

• Improve and systematize casualty data collection.
• Plan and undertake survivor identification and needs assessment.
• Increase services in all areas of victim assistance, particularly physical rehabilitation and employment, and improve survivors’ access to services.
• Enhance victim assistance coordination and align with disability-rights coordination.
• Adopt the revised National Plan of Action on Victim Assistance.
• Adopt and implement the law protecting the rights of persons with disabilities.

Victim assistance planning and coordination

International commitments and obligations

Laws and policies

The law protects the rights of persons with disabilities and prohibits discrimination against them, however, the government did not effectively enforce the law. No legislation exists to ensure access to buildings for persons with disabilities.[6] DPOs reported marginalization of and discrimination against persons with disabilities.[7]

On 23 April 2019, the government of Chad adopted the draft decree for the 2007 law on the protection of persons with disabilities.[8]

The Ministry of Women, Early Childhood Protection, and National Solidarity is responsible for guaranteeing the rights of persons with disabilities through its Directorate for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (Direction nationale pour la réinsertion des personnes handicapées) and the Ministry of Public Health for physical rehabilitation. Humanity & Inclusion (formerly Handicap International, HI) worked with these ministries and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and Ministry of Defense.[9]

Major Developments

Médecins sans frontières (MSF) activities ended.[10] The social inclusion and inclusive education project implemented by HI and Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) in the Lake Chad region ended in June 2018.[11]

HI was implementing two relevant European Union-funded projects during the period: the Project to Support the Demining Sector in Chad (Projet d’Appui au secteur du déminage du Tchad, PADEMIN), which ended in October 2018, and the new four-year Project for Social Protection, Demining and Economic Development (Protection sociale, déminage et développement économique, PRODECO), launched in October 2017.[12] The four-year PRODECCO project is being implemented in cooperation with the Catholic Relief and Development (Secours Catholique et Développement, SECADEV).[13] In October 2018, Chad adopted the draft law on the ratification of the CRPD.[14]

Needs assessment

HI conducted an identification, referral, and needs assessment pilot project in the provinces of Borkou and Ouaddaï, within the framework of the PADEMIN Project, which ended in October 2018.[15] Under the new four-year project PRODECO, a survey of persons with disabilities and an assessment of their needs were being conducted in Borkou.[16]

Medical care and rehabilitation

Mine/ERW survivors and their families faced the glaring problem of access to services.[17] In Chad, free healthcare is effective, though only partially implemented.[18] Health services in contaminated areas were limited, with few qualified personnel, and there were no rehabilitation services in these areas.[19] The Kabalaye Limb-fitting and Rehabilitation Center (Centre d’appareillage et de rééducation de Kabalaye, CARK) was the only operational physical rehabilitation center in N’Djamena, but it was facing funding difficulties. The cost of treatment at the CARK was borne by patients.[20]

In 2018, HI supported the strengthening of the production capacity of the CARK.[21] It continued to build the capacity of victim assistance and disability actors, including the CND, relevant national authorities, international organizations, and civil society organizations in the provinces of Borkou and Ouaddaï.[22]

Under PRODECO, the rehabilitation center, SECADEV, received funds to produce prostheses for persons with disabilities and to conduct referrals.[23]

Victim assistance providers and activities