Chad UPR: Respect freedom of peaceful assembly

During the review, Chad shared its willingness to organise a series of activities in cooperation with their traditional partners to ensure broad dissemination of all 334 accepted recommendations and to enable their administrative and customary state bodies, as well as civil society organisations, can take ownership of these recommendations.

In the joint statement, ISHR and LTDH noted that during the violently repressed demonstrations of 20 October 2022, at least a hundred people lost their lives. The families of the victims are still waiting for justice to be served. It is imperative that the Chadian authorities respect their commitment to justice, and promptly conduct an impartial and thorough investigation to determine the circumstances in which the demonstrators were killed and injured so that they can hold the perpetrators accountable.

Therefore, ISHR and LTDH called on Chad to: 

• Put an end to arbitrary arrests and detentions, acts of intimidation, threats and restrictions, acts of torture or ill-treatment against defenders and journalists and bring the guilty parties before national courts.
• Decriminalise homosexuality by repealing article 354 of the penal code and refrain from adopting repressive and discriminatory laws contrary to international instruments.
• Repeal Ordinance No. 011/PR/2023 of 1 August 2023 relating to demonstrations on public roads and respect the freedom of peaceful assembly as guaranteed by Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.