Government links 10% compensation of victims to former dictator’s “rehabilitation”
(5 March 2024) Victims of former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré have begun receiving compensation amounting to a total of $16.5 million (10 billion CFA francs). Habré, who ruled Chad from 1982-1990, was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity in 2016 by an African Union-backed court in Senegal and died there in August 2021.
The payments, which began on 23 February following a meeting between President Mahamat Idriss Déby Into and the three Chadian victims’ associations, are being made to 10,700 victims, including prison survivors and the families of those who were killed under Habré, who will each receive US$ 1,529 (925 000 CFA). This represents less than 10% of what the court in Senegal and another court in Chad in 2015 had awarded the victims.
“Habré’s victims fought relentlessly for 25 years to bring their dictator and his henchmen to justice. This money is a small fraction of what they were awarded by the courts, and far, far, less than they are entitled to under international law,” said Reed Brody of the International Commission of Jurists who has worked with the victims since 1999. “But for many of the victims who have waited so long and are in desperate need, this payment will make a huge difference in their lives.”
The appellate court in Dakar which confirmed Habré’s conviction in April 2017 awarded US$ 136 million (82 billion CFA) to Habré’s victims- US$ 32,000 (20 million CFA) for each victim of rape and sexual slavery, US$ 24,000 (15 million CFA) for each victim of torture and arbitrary detention and US$ 16,000 (10 million CFA) for the families of slain victims. The court mandated an AU trust fund to raise the money by searching for Habré’s assets and soliciting contributions. Although the AU has allocated US$5 million to the trust fund, the AU and Chad never reached an agreement allowing the fund to begin work in Chad.
In a separate trial in Chad, a court on March 25, 2015 convicted 20 Habré-era security agents on murder and torture charges and awarded US$ 124 million (75 billion CFA francs) in reparations to the victims, ordering the government to pay half and the convicted agents the other half.
The payments of US$ 1,529 are being made on a schedule to victims at three bank branches in the capital Ndjamena before moving to provincial branches. The victims’ associations have noted many errors in the list of recipients.
The Chadian president’s office reported that at their 22 February meeting, the victims “humbly asked the President of the Republic to rehabilitate” Habré, leading many observers to speculate that the president short-circuited the African Union reparations process and went forward hastily with incorrect lists in order to win the victims’ approval for the return of Habré’s mortal remains and cement his own backing from Habré’s supporters. However, victim leaders challenged the rehabilitation of the former dictator before the victims received full compensation, and vowed to continue campaigning for what the courts had ordered.
“My own father was killed by Hissène Habré and I don’t even know where he was buried,” said Abdoulaye Dam Pierre, president of the Association of Victims of Crimes and Repression of the Hissène Habré regime (AVCRHH) who was also a prisoner under Habré. “We need fully to compensate the victims so that people’s hearts can be consoled, so that reconciliation can take root. Only then will we consider the possibility of bringing back Hissène Habré’s remains. We mustn’t rub salt in the wounds.”
Habré’s one-party rule, from 1982-1990, was marked by widespread atrocities, including the targeting of certain ethnic groups. Political police files recovered by Human Rights Watch in 2001 revealed the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention, and 12,321 victims of human rights violations. Habré was deposed in 1990 by Idriss Déby Into, the father of the current president, and fled to Senegal.
The 2015 Chad verdict against security officers working under Habré also ordered the government to erect a monument “to honor those killed under Habré and to create a museum in the former political police headquarters, where detainees were tortured. The government has not complied with any of these orders. In January 2024, the government razed the former political police headquarters while sparing the infamous “Piscine” prison.
International human rights law requires states to make reparations to victims of human rights violations that are commensurate with the harm suffered.
For more information:
In Banjul, Gambia – Reed Brody – International Commission of Jurists – +1 917-388-6745 (WhatsApp/Signal) reedbrody@gmail.com twitter @reedbrody
In Ndjamena – Abdoulaye Dam Pierre –AVCRHH ++235 99 92 26 08
