Chad Humanitarian Bulletin Issue 03 | May – June 2016

HIGHLIGHTS

• Chad is part of the dynamics of the World Humanitarian Summit.

• In Lac region sustainable solutions are needed to minimize the impact of the crisis on livelihoods, especially for 130,000 people in situation of food insecurity (“crisis phase”).

• In preparation for floods, the humanitarian community is taking steps to maintain basic services in potentially inaccessible areas.

World Humanitarian Summit: challenges for Chad

A historical event, strong commitments

On 23 and 24 May, the first World Humanitarian Summit was held in Istanbul, which brought together over 9,000 participants from 180 Member States, including 63 Heads of State and Government, hundreds of representatives of the private sector, thousands of civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Chad’s voice in particular has been heard through the Humanitarian Coordinator, as well as a Chadian delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration, and the participation of representatives from the civil society.

The summit resulted in strong commitments around the five core responsibilities of the Agenda for Humanity, namely: (1) Demonstrate political leadership to prevent and end conflicts; (2) Uphold the norms that safeguard humanity; (3) Leave no one behind: a commitment to address forced displacement; (4) Changing people’s life: from delivering aid to ending needs; (5) Financing: Investing in humanity.

An agenda tailored to the humanitarian challenges in Chad

The Agenda for Humanity echoes the main humanitarian challenges in Chad. Indeed, a stronger international commitment is essential to preserve this island of stability in a volatile sub-region. In the effort to maintain security, especially in Lake Chad, respect for humanitarian law and human rights is a priority.

Moreover, the issue of forced displacement is important in Chad, with over 500,000 refugees, returnees, and internally displaced people (IDP) in the country. The role of the Government in the protection and assistance to IDPs needs to be strengthened in line with Article 5 of the Kampala Convention which stipulates the primary responsibility of States.

Moreover, the link between humanitarian and development is crucial to get out of the trap of protracted crises. Therefore, humanitarian actors in Chad are working with the Government to promote the empowerment of refugees, reintegration of Chadian returnees from CAR, and the implementation of sustainable solutions in the Lac region to prevent dependence to assistance (livelihood restoration, rehabilitation of public infrastructures, access to basic social services).

Finally, chronic aid underfunding remains a major challenge for Chad: only 13 percent of the funding required for humanitarian response in 2016 has been funded to date.
Development aid also remains largely underfunded.