Mme Chair,
Allow me to extend the gratitude of Sweden to His Excellency Mr. Djasnabaille, for taking an active part in our dialogue here today. We appreciate the strong commitment of the government to handle the challenges your country is facing within the area of Human Rights. We would like to raise three issues:
First; Sweden welcomes your endorsement of the “Paris Commitments” on children and armed conflict. We also appreciate the steps taken by the Government of Chad to end child recruitment to its national army. However, recruitment and use of children by all parties to the conflict is still continuing and only a small number of children have been demobilized. We would recommend to take further measures to prevent that parties to the conflict continue to recruit children. We would also recommend increased efforts to release and demobilize child fighters and implement measures to ensure their reintegration into society. Second; We are concerned about reports on sexual violence against women and girls in Chad. According to credible reports, women continue to face rape and sexual violence. In almost all cases, the perpetrators of these abuses, whether they were state or non-state actors, go unpunished. We recommend to implement further measures to tackle the problem of violence against women and combat impunity in this regard.
Lastly; Sweden welcomes the law adopted in 2002 which prohibits female genital mutilation. However, it is still a common practice and we would recommend to implement further measures to stop the practice altogether.
Thank you, Mme Chair.