VIII. Nature and Scope of Returns
An estimated 40,000 IDPs returned to their villages in 2008, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA), an accounting that includes those who returned on a temporary basis.[64] Revised, provisional figures released by OCHA in March 2009 placed the number of permanent returns, exclusive of seasonal returns, at approximately 27,000.[65] The majority of this return has been to areas far from the border and close to humanitarian hubs such as Kerfi, Goz Beida, and Koukou-Angarana, the scene of fighting in May 2009. However, Chadian authorities, MINURCAT, UN agencies, and NGOs should not consider these returns to be indicative of an environment conducive to safe returns. In many cases, prevailing insecurity compels IDPs to send some members of the family to cultivate crops in home villages while others remain in the safety of the camps.
Human Rights Watch considers displacement to end with one of the three “durable solutions” endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC): permanent return to area of origin, integration into the local community, or resettlement in another part of the country.[66] Security must be in place for returns to endure, as one IDP said:
If the UN takes up its responsibility and provides security, those who are in the villages will be able to stay there. If not, they will just stay for as long as it takes to plant and harvest a crop, and then they will be back in the camp.[67]
Many displaced persons told Human Rights Watch that decreasing food rations and an inability to find arable land near their displacement sites compelled them to venture into remote agricultural areas where insecurity and banditry make it impossible for most humanitarian agencies to operate. High commodity prices compounded by two consecutive years of poor harvests made IDPs dependant on food aid in 2008,[68] but the World Food Program (WFP) phased out food rations for IDPs during the year, with final rations delivered in July.[69] In November 2008, following an emergency food security assessment, WFP concluded that food aid distributions for IDPs should recommence, and it distributed food to IDPs in Goz Beida and Koukou-Angarana in April 2009.[70]
The May 2009 clashes in eastern Chad prompted three UN agencies and 11 NGOs to withdraw non-essential staff, hindering relief efforts for hundreds of thousands of civilians.[71] Although no significant displacements of civilians were noted, past rebel incursions have been strongly correlated to opportunistic militia violence in rural areas of the southeast, and have inhibited IDPs from returning to their homes.
A plan circulated by Dar Sila’s governor, M. Toké Dady, recognizes that the vast majority of IDPs come from remote and rural areas that remain insecure, and proposes to relocate IDPs to new displacement sites where the government can better provide for security.[72] Practical plans to provide relief to displaced persons are welcome, particularly in the form of temporary access to arable land, though any such efforts must involve local communities and ensure local tenure rights are respected and avoid the creation of conflicts.
Further, several aspects of the governor’s plan raise human rights concerns. In an interview with Human Rights Watch, Governor Dady dismissed the notion that IDPs might not want to relocate, saying, “If it is up to them to decide, they will make the wrong decision.”[73] Relocation initiatives must ensure the full participation of the internally displaced, as international norms require,[74] and should be consistent with the principle of voluntariness, which is essential to IDP protection.[75] The Chadian government must be prepared to guarantee continued assistance to those who desire to integrate into host communities.
UN Security Council resolution 1861 established three benchmarks for measuring the success of MINURCAT: demilitarized camp environments, improved government civilian protection, and the return of a “critical mass” of IDPs.[76] MINURCAT must be cautious about giving civilians a false sense of security in areas that may be unsafe, either due to immediate threats or long-term instability.
[64] “Rapport sur la Situation Humanitaire au Tchad,” OCHA report, November 27, 2008, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2008.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/RMOI-7LVK2K-rapport_complet.pdf/$File/rapport_complet.pdf, (accessed March 3, 2009), p. 4.
[65] “IDPs in eastern Chad: is it time to go back home?” policy paper, Oxfam, Action Contre la Faim, Care and Cordaid, April 2009.
[66] The IASC is a policy forum for the UN and NGOs. See Brookings Institution, University of Bern Project on Internal Displacement, “When Displacement Ends: a Framework for Durable Solutions,” June 2007, http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2007/09displacementends/2007_durablesolutions.pdf (accessed April 15, 2009), p. 8.
[67] Human Rights Watch interview, Gourounkoum IDP site, Chad, June 4, 2008.
[68] “Renewed fighting and price hikes on basic food staples limit food access in the East,” USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) Food Security Alert, July 7, 2008, http://fews.net/docs/Publications/chad_alert_2008_07_08.pdf (accessed April 15, 2009).
[69] “Humanitarian Action in Chad: Facts and Figures,” OCHA Snapshot Report, October 23, 2008, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KSAI-7KQ384?OpenDocument (accessed April 21, 2009). Upon the urging of humanitarian workers, WFP distributed 30-day rations to vulnerable groups in Gassire and Kerfi in November 2008. “Rapport sur la Situation Humanitaire au Tchad,” OCHA report, November 27, 2008, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2008.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/RMOI-7LVK2K-rapport_complet.pdf/$File/rapport_complet.pdf (accessed April 21, 2009), p.5.
[70] “Rapport sur la Situation Humanitaire au Tchad,” OCHA report, January 26, 2009, http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2009.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/EDIS-7NNS3Q-rapport_complet.pdf/$File/rapport_complet.pdf (accessed April 15, 2009); and “Rapport sur la Situation Humanitaire au Tchad,” OCHA report, April 21, 2009 http://ochaonline.un.org/chad/Reports/tabid/3632/language/en-US/Default.aspx (accessed April 24, 2009). A UNICEF report noted that the incidence of acute malnutrition in IDP sites increased from below 10 percent in early 2007 to 21 percent in December 2007. UNICEF, “Briefing Book UNICEF Eastern Chad,” September 2008, http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/wcaro_east_chad_briefingbook_sept08.pdf (accessed April 2, 2009).
[71] “Security Council deplores renewed incursions in eastern Chad,” UN News, May 8, 2009, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30747&Cr=chad&Cr1= (accessed may 13, 2009).
[72] Human Rights Watch interview with M. Toké Dady, Goz Beida, Chad, February 5, 2009; and OCHA, “Réunion du groupe de travail sur le retour et les solutions durables,” unpublished document, January 16, 2009. The central government is represented in Dar Sila by a gouvernor based in Goz Beida, with a préfet installed in each department and a sous-préfet in each sous-préfecture.
[73] Human Rights Watch interview with M. Toké Dady, Goz Beida, Chad, February 5, 2009.
[74] UN Guiding Principles, Principle 28(2).
[75] UN Guiding Principles, Principle 15(d) and 28.
[76] UN Security Council, Resolution 1861, S/RES/1861 (2009), http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N09/208/44/PDF/N0920844.pdf?OpenElement (accessed May 28, 2009), para. 25.