Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights
Encyclopedia
The Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme or Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (abbreviated as ATDPH or ATPDH) is a human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 organization operating in Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...

.

Accusations of use of child soldiers

ATPDH president and lawyer Jacqueline Moudeina accuses the current Chadian government of forcing minors into the Chadian military and using them "as human shields ... We have lots of information to back this up, including testimony from witnesses who have managed to escape... There's absolutely no doubt [young men] are being sent to the war zone." Moudeina alleges that the child soldiers are sent to military barracks in Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti
Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti
Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti may refer to:*Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Prefecture*Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region...

 in northern Chad, or Moussoro
Moussoro
Moussoro is a town in Chad, lying 300km north east of N'Djamena on the road to Faya-Largeau. An important transportation centre, it lies in a dry river bed and as a result has more vegetation than is usual in the area....

, 94 miles north of the Chadian capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

 N'Djamena
N'Djamena
N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. A port on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River, it directly faces the Cameroonian town of Kousséri, to which the city is connected by a bridge. It is also a special statute region, divided in 10 arrondissements. It is a...

, and then to the Chadian-Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

ese border to fight in the current Chad-Sudan conflict to make up for the mass desertions of army officers who are joining the United Front for Democratic Change
United Front for Democratic Change
The United Front for Democratic Change or Front uni pour le changement is a Chadian rebel alliance, made up of eight individual rebel groups, all with the goals of overthrowing the government of current Chadian President. It is now part of the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development. UFDC...

 rebel
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...

 alliance.

The UFDC wishes to overthrow the current administration of Chadian President Idriss Déby
Idriss Déby
General Idriss Déby Itno is the President of Chad and the head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement. Déby is of the Bidyat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. He added "Itno" to his surname in January 2006.-Rise to power:...

 and to hold "fair and free elections" after a two year interim period. Chadian Minister for Public Security Routouang Yoma Golom said Déby is reinforcing the army due to the desertions and that the arrests of over 300 "Colombians," a derogatory term meaning "street urchin," was a separate matter. Golom told reporters that the "people who the police rounded up are delinquents who could not be looked after by their parents. By no means do the police or us want to use force to send Chadians into the army. Everyone recruited so far has been a volunteer."

Government crackdown

On June 11, 2005, Moudeina was injured when 100 women, who were nonviolently protesting voting irregularities in the reelection of President Déby outside the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 embassy in N'Djamena, were violently attacked by police who used beatings and tear gas to put down the demonstration. The women had hoped to give the French ambassador a petition demanding new elections.
  • Second Battle of Adré
    Second Battle of Adré
    The Battle of Adré took place in Adré, Chad on December 18, 2005. The battle began when the Chadian rebel groups Rally for Democracy and Liberty and Platform for Change, Unity, and Democracy , allegedly backed by the government of Sudan, attacked the garrison in this city...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK