Sudanese Refugees in Chad: "Don't Forget Us." Women's Commission Report looks at the education and protection challenges facing adolescent refugee girls in Chad.

http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/Td_ed2.pdf

“Don’t Forget Us”:

The Education and Gender-Based Violence Protection Needs of Adolescent Girls from Darfur in Chad

 

 

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children

 

Executive Summary

 

More than 220,000 Sudanese from Darfur have fled the ongoing violence in their region and crossed the border into the desert of eastern Chad. Most of the refugees are now in camps; however, at the time of the Women’s Commission visit, several thousand remained on the border or on the periphery of some camps, waiting to be registered. The conditions are bleak: water is in very short supply and except for the southernmost camps, it is nearly impossible to farm or otherwise earn a living. With no resolution to the Darfur crisis in sight and violence continuing, it is estimated that between 50,000 and 100,000 refugees might flee to eastern Chad in 2005.[1]

 

Adolescent Girls

In Darfur, the concept of “adolescence” as a developmental stage does not exist. Females are considered girls until they menstruate, at which point they become women; however, this does not mean that females between the ages of 11 and 18 experience life in the camps in the same way as those 18 years old and above. While many of the girls in the 11-18 year age group share most of the same duties as their mothers, one major difference is that many of the girls are in school for the very first time. This is an opportunity they would not have had in Darfur and which their mothers never had.[2]

 

Education

At the time of the Women’s Commission’s visit, all 11 refugee camps had education programs. In most camps this included primary grades 1-6, some adult literacy classes, and some preschool.  In more than half of the camps, refugees who had education experience as teachers and administrators in Darfur started schools in the camps prior to the arrival of the humanitarian community.

While education is widespread, a significant number of the refugees face numerous challenges. UNICEF took the lead on education, but their presence at the time of the Women’s Commission visit was sorely lacking in the camps, as was acknowledged by UNICEF’s sub-office in Abeche. At that time, UNICEF had not provided adequate shelters for schools, school supplies or guidance to teachers or camp management. A number of contingencies, including a lack of funding and the difficulty of the conditions in Chad, many of them out of UNICEF’s control, seem to be to blame.

Another major problem are the “incentives” given to teachers by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which were seen as inadequate by the large majority of teachers. School headmasters reported losing teachers who left their jobs to make more money in other ways, such as selling firewood. The few women teachers in the camps teach only the lowest grades. Young people who have completed grade eight have no opportunities for education or skills training.

 

Gender-Based Violence

Thousands of girls and women have been raped and/or beaten in Darfur and in Chad. In most camps the Women’s Commission visited, there were reports of women who had been raped by the members of the janjaweed militia. Some of these rapes have resulted in pregnancy. Pregnancy due to rape is an extremely complicated issue; it is culturally unacceptable to be pregnant outside of marriage, and to be carrying a child fathered by the “enemy” compounds the problem dramatically. Health staff reported that women pregnant as a result of rape did not report the rape due to the social stigma attached. There were some reports of women abandoning babies of the janjaweed; however, in other camps programs were being developed with refugee communities to integrate and support mothers and their children born as a result of rape.

In Chad refugee girls and women are sometimes beaten and raped when they are collecting firewood. They must walk for hours to get firewood; in some areas, attacks on girls collecting firewood by host communities are frequent. In addition to competition for scarce firewood, local communities resent the basic services the refugees receive, which they lack. Women and girls in four camps reported being beaten when collecting wood, and rapes were reported in two camps; the perpetrators were reported to be local people. At the time of the Women’s Commission mission, very little psychosocial assistance was available to girls and women victims of gender-based violence.

 

Other Issues

The Women’s Commission found a number of other issues during the course of the mission.

One was the problem of unregistered refugees, who have in some cases been waiting for months for assistance; they cannot receive assistance until they are given official documentation by UNHCR. Overcrowding in the camps remains a significant problem, as does the lack of water. The issues are related: the search for much-needed new camps is contingent on finding viable water sources, a difficult feat in the vast desert. The water rations had been cut to below internationally accepted standards in at least one camp by the camp management.

Tensions are increasing between the refugees and the host communities in many areas. The villages surrounding the camps are among the poorest in the world; a poor harvest last year has made their situation even worse.

 

Executive Summary Recommendations:

 

Adolescent Girls

°  NGOs and United Nations agencies need to keep pushing for girls and young women to take part in decision-making in camp management, youth committees, women’s groups, and in schools.

°  Each organization working on the ground should have a gender specialist and should implement projects with a gender perspective. Funding must be earmarked for this purpose.

 

Gender-Based Violence

°  All health care providers should immediately establish and implement care for the survivors of violence following established protocols.

°  Simple and safe alternative methods of cooking should be expanded, and safe systems for

gathering firewood must be created.

 

Education

°  Semi-permanent classrooms need to be built to protect students from heat, wind, rain and sandstorms.

°  Furniture and supplies, including textbooks, curriculum guides from Sudan, pens, paper, pencils, blackboards and sports equipment, should be provided or restocked immediately.

°  Distribution times for food and other items should be set so that they do not conflict with school hours; this then would not be used as an excuse for keeping girls out of school.

°  A program of providing incentives to parents so they send girls to school should be developed and implemented.

°  UNHCR and UNICEF should hire an education staff member from the start of an operation.

°  Literacy classes should be available for all refugees regardless of age or gender.

 

Additional Recommendations

°  Local communities must be given resources so that tensions between local people and refugees lessen.

°  Because finding water sources is a priority, the drilling of multiple bore holes should take place simultaneously.

 

 

A full copy of the report can be read at: http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/Td_ed2.pdf