UN human rights expert condemns executions of 10 people in Chad after swift trial

The Typewriter
An independent United Nations human rights expert has condemned the recent executions of 10 people in Chad who were suspected of being members of the terrorist group Boko Haram following a swift process that may not have met international standards.

The 10 were executed on 29 August following a three-day trial. Chadian authorities reintroduced the death penalty in the wake of terrorist attacks carried out in the country by Boko Haram between June and July.

“While I express my deepest rejection of the terrorist attacks in June and July, I encourage the Government to react to such events within the limits of its obligations under international law,” the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns, said in a news release issued yesterday.

“The death penalty is an extreme form of punishment and, if used at all, should only be imposed after a fair trial that respects the most stringent due process guarantees as stipulated in international human rights law,” he said.

According to the news release, it is unclear whether their swift trial abided by international human rights standards, or whether those executed were able to use their right to appeal, as the hearings were moved to a secret location on the last day.

Mr. Heyns noted that the last official execution in Chad took place in 2003, and called on the Chadian authorities to reinstate the moratorium on the use of capital punishment that was put into place in 2014.

“In addition to the other problems with these executions, when dealing with a right as fundamental in nature as the right to life, this back and forth between having the death penalty and not having it, is arbitrary,” he said. “Instead of making life more valuable, as the presumed intention behind the executions was, such conduct cheapens the lives of all concerned.”

The UN Special Rapporteurs on torture, Juan E. Méndez, and on human rights and counter terrorism, Ben Emmerson, also endorsed the statement by Mr. Heyns.

Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

Chad - Lake Chad: “Worrying humanitarian situation”, warns UN

MISNA
“The communities we met had witnessed indescribable violence. Entire families found themselves in worrying humanitarian situations”, the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Toby Lanzer, said warning of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Lake Chad basin.

The UN adds that wide insecurity has forced over 41,000 people to flee the islands to settle in more secure zones in the interior territories over the past month. The area has in fact been targeted by numerous attacks by the Nigerian Boko Haram militants. The insecurity has also impacted crops during harvest time, heightening the possible humanitarian consequences.

“The international community should urgently reinforce its humanitarian action, especially for the displaced people in the Lake region who have been affected by the crisis", Lanzer said. Only 35% of the $572 million needed to address the most pressing needs has been made available.

Chad reintroduces death penalty with anti-terror law

AFP
N'Djamena - Chad reintroduced the death penalty just six months after its abolition on Thursday, as legislators passed a stringent anti-terror bill in the face of a spate of deadly Boko Haram attacks.

After suffering two suicide bombings in a month, including one in a bustling market in the capital N'Djamena, Chad has beefed up security in recent weeks.

It has already banned the wearing of the full Islamic veil, and on Thursday local authorities in the capital imposed a ban on begging.

The government's draft law had raised fears among opponents and rights activists that it might be used to curtail freedoms, and legislators took its proposals much further, toughening sentences and giving the police greater powers in cases of suspected terrorism.

Beyond capital punishment for the most serious cases, penalties for lesser terror offences were increased to life from the current maximum of 20 years, and the duration for which suspects can be held by police without charge will be increased from 48 hours to 30 days, renewable twice.

Lawmakers passed the law unanimously, with 146 votes for and zero against, including zero abstentions. At least 40 or so deputies were absent, however, in a national assembly dominated by the ruling party of President Idriss Deby, who has held power since 1990.

Chad has helped spearhead a major regional offensive launched in early 2015 to fight the Nigerian militants, and N'Djamena is now set to host the headquarters of a new, more efficient multinational task force created in the face of a fresh surge of attacks.

Boko Haram 'windfall' for government

Opposition leader Saleh Kebzabo declared he was "relatively satisfied" with the law, as deputies had amended one article derided for an overly vague definition of terrorism.

A provision to safeguard freedom of expression and human rights was added to the final draft.

"No one wants terrorism," Kebzabo had said earlier, adding that the fight against Boko Haram has come as a "windfall to the Chadian government" and "allows for the organisation of repression before the presidential vote" slated for next year.

In June 2005, a constitutional revision adopted following a controversial referendum scrapped the limit to two five-year presidential terms. Itno was re-elected in 2006 and again in 2011.

Chad has taken steps to increase security since suicide attacks struck a school and a police building in N'Djamena in June, killing 38 people, and again in July, killing 15 in a market.

On Thursday, authorities in N'Djamena banned begging in the capital a week after two girls who were begging blew themselves up in neighbouring Cameroon.

In a country where Muslims make up 53% of the population - with Christians accounting for 35% - the ban on the veil, including the face-covering burqa, prompted mixed reactions.

The tough prohibition was a first in Africa, but several regions of Cameroon and Niger have since followed suit.

On Thursday, N'Djamena mayor Ali Haroun also ordered bars to shut at 22:00, except on Saturdays and on the eve of public holidays, when they are allowed to stay open until midnight.

In Cameroon, a 12-year-old girl suicide bomber killed 20 people last Saturday night in an attack on a bar in Maroua, which is situated southwest of the border from N'Djamena.

Raids and arrests by the security forces have shot up in recent months, with reports of hundreds of people detained in N'Djamena alone.

Amnesty International has condemned the "total impunity" in which serious rights violations take place in Chad.

"Human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists were victims of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest and detention," the London-based rights group said in its annual report for 2014-2015.

Chad: El cierre de la frontera hundirá el bote salvavidas de los refugiados de Rep Centroafricana tendrá un desastroso impacto

Amnesty International
La decisión del gobierno chadiano de cerrar la extensa frontera meridional del país tendrá un desastroso impacto para los hombres, mujeres y niños que huyen de la creciente violencia de motivación étnica que afecta desde hace meses a República Centroafricana, ha declarado hoy Amnistía Internacional.

Ayer se supo que el 11 de mayo, el presidente de Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, anunció el cierre durante una visita a la frontera entre los dos países. El presidente declaró que la frontera se “cerraría herméticamente” para todos salvo para los ciudadanos chadianos que retornasen a su país y sus pertenencias “hasta que se resuelva la crisis en República Centroafricana”.

“El presidente Déby ha cerrado la puerta en la cara a los refugiados que llegan desde República Centroafricana, condenándolos a seguir sufriendo. El presidente debe anular esta decisión y la comunidad internacional debe hacer más para ayudar a las decenas de miles de refugiados de República Centroafricana que han huido a Chad”, declaró Christian Mukosa, investigador de Amnistía Internacional sobre África Central.

“Más de 360.000 personas han huido ya de República Centroafricana a los países vecinos; muchos lo hicieron a partir de diciembre de 2013, cuando la crisis actual se agravó convirtiéndose en un ciclo de crímenes de guerra y crímenes de lesa humanidad, incluida la limpieza étnica. El cierre de la frontera con Chad bloqueará una vía crucial para los civiles que buscan refugio en Chad.

“Los civiles procedentes de República Centroafricana no deben ser devueltos en la frontera, donde correrán un mayor riesgo de ser atacados o perder la vida.”

Amnistía Internacional ha señalado que la decisión de las autoridades de Chad podría sentar las bases para que se cometan abusos en la frontera que podrían afectar tanto a chadianos como a ciudadanos extranjeros. Dado que muchas de las personas que huyen del conflicto de República Centroafricana carecen de documentación, será difícil determinar su nacionalidad.

La frontera entre ambos países tiene alrededor de mil kilómetros de longitud. Decenas de miles de civiles de República Centroafricana —y de ex combatientes— ya han entrado en Chad, y muchos viven en condiciones terribles en campos formales de refugiados, así como en asentamientos informales.

Los últimos datos del Alto Comisionado de la ONU para los Refugiados (ACNUR) indican que siguen llegando refugiados procedentes de República Centroafricana a la frontera con Chad. Algunos han caminado casi dos meses para llegar hasta allí. Además de mostrar signos de agotamiento en general, el ACNUR ha documentado 28 casos de malnutrición, tres de heridas de bala que necesitaban cirugía especializada, así como casos de disentería y sarna entre los recién llegados.

En marzo de 2014, Amnistía Internacional visitó algunos de los campos de refugiados situados en la parte chadiana de la frontera. Dadas la escasez de ayuda y la inseguridad general imperantes, la organización advirtió de que quienes huyen de República Centroafricana podrían sufrir una segunda crisis humanitaria en Chad.

En una visita realizada a Chad la semana pasada, la secretaria general adjunta de la ONU de Asuntos Humanitarios y coordinadora del Socorro de Emergencia, Valerie Amos, pidió que se adoptaran más medidas para ayudar a los refugiados procedentes de República Centroafricana y de otros países que han buscado refugio dentro de las fronteras de Chad.

Chad es Estado Parte en la Convención sobre el Estatuto de los Refugiados de 1951 y su Protocolo Facultativo de 1967.

En abril de 2014, Chad retiró a su contingente de 850 soldados de la fuerza de paz dirigida por la Unión Africana en República Centroafricana, después de que se formularan acusaciones creíbles contra ellos de usar la fuerza indiscriminada contra la población civil.

Thousands of Darfur refugees flee to Chad

The Australians News

- Around 12,500 Sudanese refugees fleeing inter-ethnic violence in the troubled Darfur region have crossed into Chad over the last four weeks, the UN refugee agency says.
"For around a month (the border town of) Tissi has registered a huge influx of Sudanese refugees from the Darfur region" said Aminata Gueye, the representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Chad, on Saturday.
A joint UN-government mission sent to Tissi had registered some 12,500 people, which UNHCR was unprepared for, Gueye said.
"We were not expecting this. It is an urgent situation that worries us," she said.

Refugees arriving in Chad said they were escaping violence between different ethnicities competing for control of Darfur's gold mines.
At least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since non-Arab rebels first rose up against Sudan's Arab-dominated regime in 2003, the UN says.
Though the violence has lessened, fighting between soldiers and rebels, as well as tribal violence, is still an everyday occurrence.