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Chad

Last Updated: 17 December 2012

Casualties and Victim Assistance

Casualties Overview

All known casualties by end 2011

At least 2,864 (1,149 people killed, 1,517 injured, and 198 unknown)

Casualties in 2011

34 (2010: 28)

2011 casualties by outcome

6 killed; 28 injured (2010: 28 unknown)

2011 casualties by device type

34 unknown explosive items

The Monitor recorded 34 mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in Chad. However, no further details about the type of device, the civil or military status or the age and sex of the victims were provided.[1] This represented an increase from the 28 mine/ERW casualties reported in Chad for 2010 but still a very significant decrease from the 131 casualties reported in 2008.[2] The National Demining Center (Centre National de Déminage, CND) reported nine new mine/ERW casualties between October 2010 and November 2011.[3] However it was not possible to compare this data with previous calendar years.

At least 2,864 mine/ERW casualties had been identified by the end of 2011: 1,149 people were killed, another 1,517 injured, and 198 unknown.[4]

The number of casualties caused by cluster munition remnants or the use of cluster munitions in Chad was not known due to a lack of detailed and comprehensive data collection.[5]

Victim Assistance

The total number of mine/ERW survivors in Chad is not known, though there were known to be more than 1,655.[6] In 2010, the CND estimated that there were at least 3,000 survivors and family members of people killed by mines/ERW in Chad.[7]

Services for mine/ERW survivors in Chad have been hampered by intermittent internal conflict and cross-border conflicts, as well as serious under-funding, through to 2011. Data on mine/ERW casualties is not adequate for use; information on the needs of survivors was not available. Most services were provided by the ICRC and NGOs. An overall need to establish services and capacities outside the capital N’Djamena and especially in remote and affected areas remained. As of 2012, for most services many survivors still needed to be transferred to N’Djamena, where facilities exist but were few and inadequate. Rehabilitation was limited to just two centers and those services were not free of charge unless covered by the ICRC, which also established a referral system and provided training. There was a persistent lack of physiotherapists and trained service providers; none worked in mine-affected areas. Psychosocial support, vocational training and economic reintegration opportunities for survivors and persons with disabilities were extremely limited; the situation was exacerbated by widespread societal discrimination against them. Legislation addressing persons with disabilities was not adequately enforced.[8] Government attention to victim assistance increased through 2010 and 2011 with the development of the National Action Plan on Victim Assistance, which was adopted in May 2012.

Assessing victim assistance needs

In 2011, no needs assessments were made in Chad. Data from a 2010 mine/ERW survivor survey and needs assessment carried out by CND, with the technical support of Handicap International (HI), had not been made public as of April 2012.[9] The CND saw a need to conduct a country-wide mapping study of all mine/ERW survivors as part of the implementation of the newly adopted National Action Plan on Victim Assistance. This study would update the 2010 needs assessment, which the CND did not consider to be comprehensive.[10]

Victim assistance coordination[11]

Government coordinating body/focal point

The CND’s Directorate of Awareness and Victim Assistance (Directorat de la Sensibilisation et Assistance aux Victimes)

Coordinating mechanism(s)

Directorate of Awareness and Victim Assistance through ad hoc meetings with relevant Ministries and service providers

Plan

In 2011 Chad worked on the drafting and adoption of a National Action Plan on Victim Assistance. The 2012-2014 Action Plan was adopted in May 2012

This first National Plan of Action on Victim Assistance was finalized over the course of 2011 with the assistance of international actors and its adoption was confirmed in May 2012.[12] The Plan of Action will be implemented in the period 2012 to 2014. It recognizes the principle of non-discrimination between mine/ERW victims and other victims and persons with disabilities.[13] The Plan of Action identifies five key priorities:

1.      Contact each survivor through organizations of mine/ERW victims and of persons with disabilities and assess their needs and the best way to respond.

2.      Identify and reinforce community networks (including disabled persons’ organizations).

3.      Map and improve victim assistance activities.

4.      Develop a network of actors within the communities to provide psychological support and provide information on available services to victims.

5.      Identify and train all service providers in affected regions on the specificities of victim assistance and improve accessibility to services in all parts of the country.[14]

No coordination meetings or events were organized in 2011 to finalize National Action Plan on Victim Assistance.[15] Coordination efforts in 2010 had been made around the drafting of the Action Plan.[16] In 2011, bilateral meetings were held between the CND and other stakeholders to coordinate activities. NGOs reported that no planning and coordination meetings on victim assistance were organized.[17] The lack of coordination meetings in 2011 was attributed to financial constraints.[18]

Implementation of the draft Action Plan had been delayed due to the existing problems with victim assistance, including financial difficulties, the distance of rehabilitation centers from affected areas, and a lack of international technical assistance. However, in 2012, Chad reported allocating funding from the Australian Government to victim assistance, which with the continued engagement of ICRC, was expected to strengthen existing rehabilitation centers, especially the Kabalaye Physical Rehabilitation Center (Centre d’Appareillage et de Rééducation de Kabalaye - CARK).[19]

Chad provided updates on progress and challenges for victim assistance at the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in November 2011 and at the Convention on Cluster Munition and Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings in Geneva in April and May 2012.[20] Chad has not submitted Form J or a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report since 2010.[21]

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

At least one NGO noted a decrease in the inclusion of survivors and their representative organizations in activities of the Directorate of Awareness and Victim Assistance and also noted that survivors were not involved in decision making or participants on international delegations. Survivors and other persons with disabilities were involved in providing physical rehabilitation services and psychological support to other survivors.[22]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities in 2011[23]

Name of organization

Type of organization

Type of activity

Changes in quality/coverage of service in 2011

CND

National mine action center

Registering all known mine/ERW survivors in order for them to access free health care; distribution of some mobility aids; advocacy for the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Ongoing

Voice of People With Disabilities (Voix des Personnes Handicapées, VPH)

National NGO

Social inclusion and psychological support activities using a community-based approach; advocacy for the ratification of the CRPD

Ongoing

Kabalaye Physical Rehabilitation Center (CARK

National NGO

Physical rehabilitation and prostheses in N’djamena

Ongoing

Notre Dame House of Peace (Maison Notre Dame de Paix à Moundou, MNDP)

National NGO

Physical rehabilitation in Moundou, Southern Chad

 Ongoing

Association of Mutual Aid of Physically Disabled of Chad (Association d’Entraide aux Handicapés Physique du Tchad, AEHPT)

National NGO

Advocacy, psychological support, and social inclusion for all persons with disabilities

Increased efforts to expand geographic coverage to remote areas.

ICRC

International organization

Support for improved emergency and continuing medical care at Abeche regional hospital, support for physical rehabilitation, through CARK, MNDP

Ongoing

There were no significant changes in the accessibility, availability, or quality of victim assistance services in Chad in 2011.

In 2011, the ICRC supported medical training, with a focus on war wounds and other surgical emergencies, for nursing students and their tutors at the regional hospital.[24]

The ICRC continued to provide financial and logistical assistance to survivors to increase access to rehabilitation services by allowing survivors living in remote areas to come to N’Djamena’s rehabilitation centers. ICRC paid for flights to the capital and also covered physical rehabilitation and costs including prostheses and physiotherapy services. Following the demolition of the AEHPT-run accommodation center in August 2010 which had been used by the ICRC for patients coming from outside the Capital,[25] only a limited number of beneficiaries with particular difficulties, especially those without any family members in N’Djamena, were provided with accommodation and food during their rehabilitation. These ad hoc services were only provided for two consecutive months in 2011 due to lack of accommodation space.[26] 

In 2012, the CND reported that work was underway on a new reception area at CARK, with the support of the ICRC, so that patients would no longer have to wait outside in the street before being seen. There was a need for the CARK to develop the capacity to train new personnel to work either directly at the Center or in other rehabilitation centers across the country.[27]

AEHPT provided psychological support and social inclusion services, as well as physical rehabilitation. The AEHPT strived to increase the geographical coverage of their activities but due to a lack of accessibility activities remained limited in remote areas of certain regions.[28]

A law adopted in 2007 protecting the rights of persons with disabilities remained inoperative by the end of 2011, pending the passing of a decree to make it enforceable.[29]  However, the law was used as the legal basis for a new policy enforced by Chad’s Ministry of Education to exempt all students with disabilities from tuition fees, as well as the children of persons with disabilities.[30] The Government made efforts to enforce legislation prohibiting discrimination against persons with disabilities in N’Djamena, but was unable to do so throughout the country.[31]

As of 1 June 2012, Chad had not signed the CRPD.

 



[1] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, Secretary General, Association of Mutual Aid of Physically Disabled of Chad (Association d’Entraide aux Handicapés Physique du Tchad (AEHPT), 11 March 2012.

[2] In 2010, CND reported 64 casualties for 2009, but by 2011 the 2009 casualty figure had been revised to 39. Email from Assane Ngueadoum, CND, 14 March 2011. Of the 131 casualties reported in Chad for 2008, 122 casualties were recorded by the CND and nine were identified through media monitoring from 1 January 2008–31 December 2008; Monitor analysis of CND, “Liste générale des victims des mines et autres engines non explosés/2008” (“General list of mine/ERW victims/2008”), provided by Assane Ngueadoum, Technical Advisor for Strategic Planning and Operations, CND, N’Djamena, 15 April 2009; and email from Assane Ngueadoum, CND, 22 May 2009.

[3] Statement of Chad, Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Phnom Penh, 29 November 2011. The statement mentioned four casualties due to antivehicle mines and two casualties due to antipersonnel mines. However, it did not provide further details as to whether these victims were injured or killed or their status as civilians.

[4] In 2008, Chad reported that by December 2007, 2,632 casualties were recorded (1,143 killed; 1,489 injured). There were 131 casualties reported in 2008, 39 in 2009, and 28 in 2010. See previous editions of the Monitor: www.the-monitor.org; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, AEHPT, 11 March 2012.

[5] Handicap International (HI), Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels: HI, May 2007), p. 48. It is likely that there have been unexploded submunition casualties in Chad. However, despite ERW incidents in regions contaminated by cluster submunitions, unexploded submunition casualties were not differentiated from other ERW casualties. Landmine Impact Survey data also showed that the most common activity at the time of incident was tampering with ERW.

[6] At least 1,588 survivors had been identified by CND through December 2008. An additional 67 casualties were reported in 2009 and 2010 of which at least half were likely injured, based on previously reported ratios of killed to injured casualties. See previous editions of the Monitor; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, AEHPT, 11 March 2012.

[7] Email from Assane Ngueadoum, CND, 14 March 2011.

[8] See previous country reports and country profiles at the Monitor, www.the-monitor.org; and HI, Voices from the Ground: Landmine and Explosive Remnants of War Survivors Speak Out on Victim Assistance, Brussels, September 2009, p. 66.

[9] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Jean Luc Noverraz, Media contact, ICRC, 16 April 2012.

[10] Interview with Saleh Hissein Hassan, Coordinator, CND, in Geneva, 17 April 2012.

[11] Statement of Chad, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socioeconomic Reintegration, Geneva, 23 May 2012; Chad National Plan of Action on Victim Assistance 2012-2014, May 2012, pp. 4-5; response to Monitor questionnaire by Jean Luc Noverraz, ICRC, 16 April 2012 and by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, AEHPT, 11 March 2012; statement of Chad, Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Phnom Penh, 29 November 2011; interview with Saleh Hissein Hassan, CND, in Geneva, 17 April 2012; statement of Chad, intersessional meetings, Convention on Cluster Munition, Geneva, 16 April 2012, and Statement of Chad, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socioeconomic Reintegration, Geneva, 23 May 2012; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form J, 20 May 2010.

[12] Statement of Chad Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socioeconomic Reintegration, Geneva, 23 May 2012.

[13] Chad National Plan of Action on Victim Assistance 2012-2014, May 2012, p. 4.

[14] Ibid., p. 5.

[15] Statement of Chad, Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Phnom Penh, 29 November 2011.

[16] ICBL, “Country Profile: Chad,” www.the-monitor.org, 6 August 2010; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, AEHPT, 11 March 2012.

[17] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Jean Luc Noverraz, ICRC, 16 April 2012; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, AEHPT, 11 March 2012.

[18] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada Djoumaye, AEHPT, 11 March 2012.

[19] Statement of Chad, Mine Ban Treaty Standing Committee on Victim Assistance and Socioeconomic Reintegration, Geneva, 23 May 2012.

[20] Statement of Chad, Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Phnom Penh, 29 November 2011; and statement of Chad, intersessional meetings, Convention on Cluster Munition, Geneva, 16 April 2012.

[21] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form J, (for calendar year 2009) 20 May 2010.

[22] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada, Secretary General, AEHPT 11 March 2012.

[23] Ibid.; Jean Luc Noverraz, ICRC, 16 April 2012; ICRC, “The ICRC in Chad,” 19 January 2012, www.icrc.org/eng/where-we-work/africa/chad/overview-chad.htm; interviews with Saleh Hissein Hassan, CND, in Geneva, 17 April 2012 and Zeinaba Tidjani Ali, Director, CND, in Geneva, 24 May 2012; statement of Chad, intersessional meetings, Convention on Cluster Munition, Geneva, 16 April 2012; and US Department of State, “2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Chad” Washington, DC, 24 May 2012, p. 23.

[24] ICRC, “The ICRC in Chad,” 19 January 2012, www.icrc.org/eng/where-we-work/africa/chad/overview-chad.htm.

[25] ICRC, PRP, “Annual Report 2010,” May 2011, Geneva, p. 25.

[26] Response to Monitor questionnaire by the ICRC, 16 April 2012. The ICRC noted that, in 2011, they covered patient costs for the treatment of 88 persons coming from the East of the Country and four people from the Northern region of Chad.

[27] Statement of Chad, intersessional meetings, Convention on Cluster Munition, Geneva, 16 April 2012; and interview with Saleh Hissein Hassan, CND, in Geneva, 17 April 2012.

[28] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada, AEHPT 11 March 2012.

[29] Interview with Ali, CND, in Geneva, 24 May 2012; response to Monitor questionnaire by Mahamat Awada, AEHPT 11 March 2012; and Chad National Plan of Action on Victim Assistance 2012-2014, May 2012, pp. 23-24.

[30] Statement of Chad, Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Phnom Penh, 29 November 2011.

[31] US Department of State, “2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Chad” Washington, DC, 24 May 2012, p. 23.