Amnesty Research Mission to Chad: 20 May - June 2, 2010

Houada Mahamat Maloum, Journalist and Alex Neve.

Beyond any doubt, one of the most glaring human rights problems in eastern Chad continues to be staggering levels of violence against women and girls.  When we were here in 2006 there was absolutely no protection for women.  International forces hadn’t been deployed yet and the Chadian government simply did not care enough to protect women and girls from rape and beatings when their villages were attacked, while they were fleeing and after they had become displaced.  There was no place of safety and no one to provide safety.

But that has changed.  There have been international forces on the ground here for about 18 months.  Alongside the soldiers a new police force has been trained and deployed, the Détachement intégré de sécurité, known as the DIS.  The DIS has a specific mandate to provide security in and around refugee camps and displacement sites. Surely all of the increased security has brought increased safety for the refugee women from Darfur and the internally displaced women from Chad?  Sadly, not.

Tomorrow we will travel to Gaga Refugee Camp, not far from Abéché.  From the many meetings we have had with humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, independent journalists and local activists we already know what we are going to hear.  For women and girls in the camp, the reality of violence is still there at every turn: violence in the family, rape even at the hands of camp staff, beatings and attacks when women leave the camp in search of firewood or to go to market. 

We spent time today with Houada Mahamat Maloum, a remarkable young woman, a journalist, who is doing everything she can to draw attention to the plight of women and girls in eastern Chad.  She travels regularly to refugee c amps and displacement sites in the region and hears firsthand from women about the violence they experience on a daily basis.  She shares these stories on the radio in an effort to open peoples’ eyes to the injustices women and girls continue to face.  She continues despite the resistance she often hears, including criticism that she is forgetting her religion when she speaks out about such concerns.

Despite all of the changes that have happened in eastern Chad over the past two years Houada’s assessment was straightforward and bleak.  It is not yet safe to be a woman here.   And she added that it will not be safe for women until the justice system takes rape and other violence against women seriously.  We assured her we will add our voice to that demand.