Working environment
Conflict and insecurity in the region affect Chad’s operational environment, including the continuing insurgency in the Lake Chad area and instability in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR), Libya and Sudan. This unstable regional context is exacerbated by internal development challenges, chronic poverty, the impact of climate change and a tense socio-economic situation. In September 2019, Chad declared a state of emergency for three months in three provinces to the north and east of the country following inter-community clashes. The two eastern provinces are home to some 200,000 Sudanese refugees. Legislative elections, initially due in 2015, are due to take place in 2019.
Despite this challenging context and limited resources, the Government of Chad continues to have a positive and welcoming attitude towards refugees. For more than a decade, it has hosted around 340,000 Sudanese refugees in the east, 100,000 Central African refugees in the south and opened doors to more than 15,000 Nigerian refugees from Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad region.
Chad is characterized by a complex operational environment with protracted internal displacement due to the instability around the Lake Chad region since 2014, aggravated by regular refugee influx due to emergencies in neighboring countries. Over 22,000 refugees arrived from CAR in 2018 and over 4,500 from Nigeria in 2019 as of October 2019. To better address the refugees’ needs, Chad is one of the pilot countries for the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). In line with this approach, Chad integrated all refugee schools into the national education system, and the same process is now underway for the health sector. Building on this, the country is in the process of drafting and adopting a new national asylum law which will increase refugees’ freedom of movement and access to employment and land, which are key elements for refugees’ socio-economic inclusion.
UNHCR supports authorities as they coordinate the refugee response in Chad, with all actors involved. In accordance with the CRRF launched by Chad in 2018, UNHCR has developed strong links with development actors, such as the World Bank and the European Union, to support inclusive development in refugee hosting areas.
As for the IDP response, as part of the cluster system in place in the Lake Chad province, UNHCR is leading the Protection, Camp Coordination and Camp Management, and Shelter and Non-food items clusters.
Key priorities
In 2020, UNHCR will focus on:
- Upholding the rights of people of concern by advocating the adoption of a national asylum law as well as a text adapting the Kampala Convention on internal displacement into the Chadian legal environment.
- Supporting Chad’s efforts for a CRRF by creating synergies between development-oriented programmes, for instance by the World Bank, and humanitarian-development programmes, such as by the European Union, as well as through support for the integration of health refugee facilities into the Chadian system.
- Offering durable solutions to refugees. This may be through voluntary return, when conditions allow for safe and dignified return and resettlement, or by ensuring the gradual social and economic inclusion of refugees within the local community.
- Responding to and preventing statelessness, notably by helping 40,000 children receive a birth certificate.
- Stepping up our response for IDPs in the Lake Chad province, with a focus on the clusters led by UNHCR.