   |
|
afrol.com, 20 November - According to "reliable sources" informing the renown World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the Chadian government forces put children "on the front line in order to detect mines and if reluctant they are reportedly killed." The organisation calls for action against these practices. - These children are mainly under thirteen years old and belong to the Zagava ethnic group, the OMCT states. The government allegedly make use of forced recruitment of children in the armed forces placed in the North of the country. According to the source, last September, Mahmoud Ahmat Togot, amongst others whose identities are unknown, allegedly died as a consequence of his wounds. He was trying to flee when the armed forces allegedly shot at him. The source also reported that Assadik Tahir Djarou, Moubarak Tom and Bakhit Hamonou have been forcibly recruited to the army. According to the information received, the recruitment is carried out by the Fast Intervention Forces (F.I.R.) headed by General Mahamat Dero, belonging to the Déby President family and by the Units of the Presidential Guard (G.S.P.), headed by General Karim Nassour, son-in-law of the President. The two generals allegedly enjoy total impunity. According to the information, these arrests preceding the forced recruitment, occur daily and take place at the sub-prefecture of Iriba, but also at the roadblocks checking movement in and from urban areas. Some arrests allegedly occurred at the roadblock of N'djamena and some parents of those recruited, have been assaulted and some of them killed. The International Secretariat of OMCT expresses its "grave concern about the situation, and particularly about the physical and psychological integrity of the children and calls on the Chad Government to take all necessary measures to put an end to the unlawful and arbitrary deprivation of children's liberty and to their forced recruitment in the armed forces, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and taking into account the principles outlined in the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflicts." Earlier, it has been known that children had been forcefully recruited to rebel forces, a fact which the Chadian Minister of Justice, Limane Mahamat, had lamented highly in front of the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child. Mr. Mahamat thus stated, in empathy for the former child soldiers, that the Government was to undertake programmes "to help child soldiers re-enter civilian life and to help them with any trauma suffered". He also admitted that "a minimum age for military service has not been established". The OMCT calls on the general public to take action against the abuse of children in Chad. In a statement, they ask you to "please write to the authorities in Chad urging them to:
Address:
|
