Program to build legal capacity and professionalize justice system underway in eastern Chad

16 January 2010 [MediaGlobal]: With the presence of 190,000 Chadian IDPs and 300,000 Darfuri refugees, continued fighting between state forces and rebels, and low government capacity, eastern Chad is approaching what many observers have dubbed “Somaliaziation,” a reference to the long-standing and change-resistant lawlessness of another African country. The resulting lawlessness in Chad continues to potentially threaten the population, but this is beginning to be addressed by a new UN program that aims to train law professionals. Isabelle Assinger, UNDP-Chad’s Communications Officer, explained the need behind Chad’s judicial reform. She told MediaGlobal: “Due to insecurity, professional magistrates at the community level abandoned their posts. In other sub-prefectures, there were again no professional magistrates because of the insufficiency of the number of this type of personnel.” Assinger explained that this shortage in the judiciary led to untrained sub-prefects being entrusted with legal power not necessarily allotted to them by Chad’s constitution. The risk of impunity and gaps in justice thereby grew, raising serious concerns for the growing, and increasingly vulnerable, population. This led to the need to train existing non-professional magistrates, paralegals, clerks, and assistants to help more properly administer justice, at least temporarily. Rehabilitating East Chad and reinforcing its legal system to make it more “impartial, independent, and credible” is done through collaboration between the Chadian Ministry of Justice, UNDP, and MINURCAT – the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad, started in 2007 to protect civilians and promote human rights in the area. The first phase of this particular program of two sessions will place a new set of 98 magistrates and 50 clerks in five East Chad regions – 49 sub-prefectures throughout 13 departments. The next phase of the program will be organized later this year. Henoch Derbew