CHADIAN OFFICIALS PROMISE COORDINATION ON G/TIP

UNCLAS NDJAMENA 000258 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/C, S/USSES, G/TIP AND DRL NSC FOR HUDSON LONDON FOR POL - LORD PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR AU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM ELA KCRM KWMN KOCI CD SUBJECT: CHADIAN OFFICIALS PROMISE COORDINATION ON G/TIP ACTION PLAN, CURBING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE REF: A. STATE 65389 ¶B. STATE 64939 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Charge d'affaires delivered G/TIP Tier III Action Plan (Ref A) and elements of the USG's initiative to curb gender-based violence (Ref B) to Chadian officials at the MFA, and to the Minister of Human Rights, on June 26. At both ministries, our Chadian colleagues promised full cooperation, including via meetings with the USG in July or early August to report progress and provide formal answers to questions. End Summary. -------------- G/TIP ACTION PLAN -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Deputy Director General of the MFA Sadlassid Ali Natchou made clear that Chad wanted to use the window of opportunity offered by the USG's G/TIP Action Plan to form an inter-ministerial committee able to undertake the initiatives recommended by the USG. Minister of Human Rights Djasnabaye Abderamane said that he would dispatch labor inspectors to Armee Nationale Tchadienne (ANT) bases the week of June 30 to identify and remove individuals younger than 18, and that the inspectors would either invite UNICEF personnel to accompany them or would share findings with UNICEF and allow the organization to conduct inspections of its own. Both Natchou and Abderamane indicated that Chad was already attempting to develop a national work plan including additional activities to address the problem of child soldiers. Natchou said that the GoC would be in touch with the Embassy as specific actions were accomplished, and in any event by August 1, to present a list of what it had done to meet the specifications in the Action Plan. -------------- CURBING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE INITIATIVE -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The MFA's Natchou responded to our questions on Chad's efforts to address gender-based violence by pointing out that the practice should not exist in democratic societies, and to the extent that it existed in Chad, the GoC was committed to "removing the possibility of resorting to these sorts of actions from the minds of perpetrators." Human Rights Minister Abderamane pointed out that MINURCAT's locally-recruited police force, the Detachement Integree de Securite (DIS, charged with ensuring safety in refugee camps) had a specific mandate to curb violence against women. Female DIS officers had had considerable success in gaining the trust of women refugees who were victims of violence, which suggested that Chad could make inroads into the problem my placing more women in its own local police forces. The GoC wanted to improve its human rights record and make the progress that it was achieving "more understood and respected" internationally, said Abderamane. Answering the USG's questions (in Ref B) would afford an opportunity, he added, promising to coordinate with other ministries in the aim of providing comments to the Embassy in the coming weeks. BREMNER