Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08NDJAMENA528
2008-11-17 08:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Ndjamena
Cable title:  

CHAD: TIP WATCH INTERIM ASSESSMENT

Tags:  KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG CD 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNJ #0528 3220816
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170816Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6577
UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000528 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/RSA, G/TIP, and G - ACBLANK

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG CD
SUBJECT: CHAD: TIP WATCH INTERIM ASSESSMENT

REF: (A) STATE 110849, (B) NDJAMENA 275, (C) 07 NDJAMENA 879

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000528

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/RSA, G/TIP, and G - ACBLANK

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KTIP KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM SMIG CD
SUBJECT: CHAD: TIP WATCH INTERIM ASSESSMENT

REF: (A) STATE 110849, (B) NDJAMENA 275, (C) 07 NDJAMENA 879


1. This message provides responses to the questions posed in para
6(O) of Ref A.

a) Finalizing and Enacting Draft Law on Child Trafficking:

no progress; the draft legislation has yet to emerge from the
Ministry of Justice

b) Increasing Efforts to Arrest, Prosecute, and Convict
Traffickers:

Chadian authorities have detained some suspected offenders but
cannot legally arrest them and/or bring them to justice because
there is no law in place. A Catholic organization called "Peace and
Justice Commission" reported that nine suspected child abusers were
arrested on June 16, 2008 in the regions of Mandoul and Koumra, and
then released after paying "fines."

c) Investigating/Punishing Official Complicity in Trafficking:

no progress

d) Ensuring that Children are not Unlawfully Conscripted into the
Chadian National Army:

We believe that the practice of recruiting under-age children into
the Chadian National Army (ANT) has greatly diminished since the
June 2007 agreement with UNICEF (Ref C).

[NOTE: The Chadian National Army Law of 16 January 1991 specifies a
minimum recruitment age of 18 years. Chad ratified the Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the
involvement of children in armed conflict on August 28, 2002.]

e) Collaborating with Local and International NGOs:

Over the last three years, the GoC has authorized a local NGO called
"ARED" (Association pour la Recuperation des Enfants en Detresse),
which is based in Koumra, to remove children from forced labor with
herders and place them in training and re-education centers operated
by ARED. ARED says some 500 children have been rescued from 2006 to

2008.

f) Raising Awareness about Trafficking in Persons:

The Governors of the southern regions of Moyen Chari (in Sarh) and
Mandoul (in Koumra) are planning a joint conference on Child
Trafficking and Trafficking in Persons at a still-to-be-decided
date. Post will report on this development when details emerge.

g) Other Significant Developments:

The UN peacekeeping mission, MINURCAT, has been preventing
recruitment in Chad's eastern refugee camps by the Sudanese Army and
rebel groups. However, in the post-rainy season, there have been
reports that recruiting by the Sudanese rebel group JEM has
increased. MINURCAT is in the process of training a newly created
GoC security unit, the Integrated Security Division (DIS) to assume
the job of policing the refugee camps.

In response to the June 2008 visit to Chad by the SRSG for Children
Associated with Armed Conflict, the GoC agreed to release more than
60 children from detention and to verification visits to military
camps and training areas to prevent future recruitment of children.