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Responding to Chad’s Displacement Crisis in the Lac Province and the Implementation of the Kampala Convention

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RI
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Summary

A humanitarian crisis has gripped the people of Chad’s Lac province since conflict spilled over from neighboring Nigeria in 2014. Years on, that crisis is far from abating. Those uprooted by attacks from armed groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa struggle to get basic necessities. Although Chad’s security forces have maintained control of the country’s territory, the government has largely failed to provide for its internally displaced citizens. At the same time, international attention and donor contributions to the humanitarian response have dwindled. But now, political developments in Chad have refocused international attention on the country, and a new leadership in Chad has pledged to meet the needs of internally displaced people (IDPs). Together, these events have created an opportunity for regional and international actors to pressure the government to reverse the complacency of the past.

The need for renewed engagement is clear. The number of internally displaced people in Chad has quadrupled since 2018. At the time of writing, 381,289 people are internally displaced—the vast majority of which are in the Lac province, where food insecurity and the lack of shelter are particularly dire. Some are displaced for the first time, but the majority has been forced to flee multiple times. Across the country, an estimated 6.1 million people are in need of relief assistance. Despite these trends, donors have only contributed 37 percent of the funds needed for UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to address these needs.

Long-term displacement brings its own challenges. Most internally displaced communities have no intention of returning to their place of origin and prefer to remain in the IDP sites where they have lived in for years. For these people, tailored responses that promote sustainability and self-sufficiency are long-overdue but require donor support. Relief groups should explore programming options that transition away from emergency assistance where possible. These include building community gardens instead of food distributions and turning certain IDP sites into legally recognized villages.

An opportunity to push donors to better respond to Chad’s humanitarian and displacement challenges may be emerging. For the first time in years, the world’s eyes are on Chad again. In April 2021, President Idriss Deby Itno’s 30-year rule ended suddenly when he was killed on the frontlines of battle with rebel groups. Within days, his son Mahamat Deby became President of the Military Transition Council. Now 17 months into his 18-month transition with no elections scheduled, the country’s democratic future is up in the air. While transitioning to democratic rule is crucial, the international community must not fall into the trap of solely focusing on the country’s political dynamics. Chad’s humanitarian crisis must also be addressed.

One way to do this is by holding Chad to its regional and domestic commitments on internal displacement. Despite the political uncertainty, Chadian authorities have made finally progress in operationalizing the African Union’s Kampala Convention for the protection and assistance of IDPs. Chad signed and ratified the convention, in 2010 and 2011 respectively, but it failed to follow through once it came into force in late 2012. Over the summer, a draft law “Providing protection and assistance to internally displaced persons in the Republic of Chad,” codified the measures and responsibilities laid out by the Convention. The Chadian authorities now need to adopt and implement the draft law. Before doing so, the draft law must be amended to extend its current protection for those displaced by natural disasters to those also displaced by the slow-onset effects of climate change—a crucial differentiation given Chad’s vulnerability to climate change. Chadian leadership should view amending and adopting the law as an opportunity to fulfill its responsibilities and to signal to the region and the international community that it is committed to protecting and supporting its displaced citizens.

The coming months present a unique opportunity to change how Chadian authorities and international actors work to address the country’s humanitarian and displacement crisis. It is also an opportunity to begin to build a path out of the protracted crisis for the country’s internally displaced communities.