Transitional Justice in the Twenty-First Century: Beyond Truth versus Justice (54 page)

In an unprecedented move for Chad, seventeen victims lodged criminal complaints for torture, murder and “disappearance” on October 26, 2000 against named members of the DDS. The investigating judge in charge of the case – widely seen as frightened and hostile – dismissed the complaints for lack of jurisdiction because a 1993 law had provided for the creation of a special tribunal to judge Habré and his accomplices, a tribunal that was never, in fact, established.
[41]
The victims took the case to the Constitutional Council of Chad, which boldly ruled that the common law tribunals were able to hear these complaints.
[42]
The investigation finally began in front of another investigating judge in May 2001. Dozens of other victims then came forward to file complaints and give testimony against their direct torturers. The investigating judge began seeking the testimony of defendants, some of whom appeared, while others refused.

Despite all this, the investigation remains at a standstill. The Chadian investigating judge has repeatedly stated that he needs additional funding and, in particular, security protection if he is to carry out an investigation against these still powerful figures. At a Council of Ministers meeting on May 14, 2003, the Minister of Justice, an ally of human rights groups, informed the Council of the investigating judge's requests for government support. The minister maintained that the procedure concerning the Hissène Habré affair was running into financial, humanitarian, and security problems. At the meeting, the Council of Ministers declared itself “ready to implement any action so as to not impede the path of justice, so that the truth comes out and the case is able to proceed.”
[43]
Despite this commitment, no financial aid or security measures have in fact been forthcoming.

Without enormous political support, which is lacking, it is unfortunately not realistic to think that in a country like Chad a simple
investigating judge will have the courage or the resources to go after top‐ranking officials for human rights crimes.

The Truth Commission estimated the losses during Habré's rule at “more than 40,000 victims, more than 80,000 orphans, more than 30,000 widows, and more than 200,000 people who found themselves without moral or material support.”
[44]
Despite these numbers, and despite Chad's legal and moral obligation to repair the damage caused by these agents, no material reparations have been granted to the victims.

The
Truth Commission recommended, in 1992, “to construct a monument honoring the memory of the victims of Habré's repression,” to “designate a day for prayer and contemplation for said victims,” and to “transform the former DDS headquarters and underground prison known as the
‘Piscine’ into a museum to always remember this horrific regime.” Nevertheless, none of these recommendations have been implemented by the Chadian government. There are no ceremonies, monuments or tributes.

While Chadians are certainly aware of the horrors of the Habré regime, little has been done to educate or remind Chadians about that period. The few copies of the Truth Commission's report available in Chadian bookstores are prohibitively expensive and virtually no Chadian consulted by
Human Rights Watch had read the report.

South Africa's Robben Island, which during apartheid was used to isolate democratic leaders such as Nelson Mandela, is now a museum which organizes tours to reinforce its motto “never and never again.” In Chile, human rights workers, members of social organizations and labor unions, student leaders, ex‐prisoners and others participated in the building of the Park of Arts, a memorial built around General Pinochet's infamous torture center, Villa Grimaldi. Tuol Sleng, Cambodia's infamous detention center in which over 20,000 people were brutally murdered, is now a Museum of
Genocidal Crimes which houses exhibits and paintings depicting the events that took place there. In Chad, however, the
Piscine
, now in disuse, remains off‐limits to ordinary
Chadians.

The limitations of transitional justice in Chad have been largely determined by the limits of the “transition” itself. Déby's military defeat of
Habré put an end to the most bloody and repressive period of Chad's history, but replaced it with an authoritarian system that has become more and more closed as years go by.

Chad's lack of a rule of law tradition has also made progress difficult. Chad has never had a tradition of official accountability. “Since when has justice come all the way to Chad?” asked a former political prisoner five years ago when a group of torture victims first discussed the idea of prosecuting Habré.
[45]
The question remains pertinent today.

Chad's transition also came at the early stage of the boom in transitional justice, when accountability was still the exception rather than the norm. Being a francophone country may have also limited Chad's efforts. Most of the great experiments in transitional justice have taken place in English‐ and Spanish‐speaking countries. The literature of transitional justice is largely in these two languages, and there are not that many international transitional justice experts who speak French.

In addition, Chad's transition has been notable for the lack of international involvement, an important factor in the promotion of transitional justice elsewhere. Chad's isolation would also seem to be a factor. Despite his record, Habré was not exactly a household name, and there was no international outcry for bringing him or his henchmen to justice. In many of the lesser‐developed countries, such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Timor Leste and Sierra Leone, efforts at transitional justice were guided by international pressure. In Chad, the involvement of
Amnesty International, though it did not bring resources, at least generated support for the creation of the Truth Commission.

After years of stagnation, the “Pinochet Precedent” and the subsequent interest in the case of Habré by Human Rights Watch and other international NGOs put the question of transitional justice back on the agenda. Chadian NGOs and the
AVCRP were empowered by the international support and the enhanced credibility they gained from arrest. But the inherent weakness of Chad's judiciary and the closed nature of its political system have limited the “bounce” that the Habré prosecution has provided.

Despite the lack of progress, the fact that the
AVCRP's voice is heard and that these transitional issues are even on the table is largely due to the international case against Hissène Habré which, like the international case against Pinochet, focused attention on Chad's unfinished transition.

Now that a database of DDS files has been created in which it is possible to research names and statistics, the
AVCRP and Human Rights
Watch plan to transform these documents – copies of which are on CD‐ROM – into a public archive so that Chadian victims and their families can discover the fate of those who disappeared, and which can also serve as a memorial to the victims of Habré's regime.

In September 2002, at a skills seminar which Human Rights Watch and the French NGO
Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme
organized for AVCRP members, the
AVCRP called on the government to establish a compensation fund for victims and their families, and to implement the 1992 Truth Commission recommendations by erecting a monument to the memory of the victims, and purging Habré's accomplices from their key posts in the state security apparatus. With new funding from international donors, it also resolved to campaign on these issues.

In August 2005, following the publication of a Human Rights Watch report, the Chadian government, in a letter to Human Rights Watch, promised to remove all Habré accomplices from government jobs, to introduce a bill granting compensation to victims, and to create a monument to the victims as soon as funds were available to do so. Six leading Habré‐era security agents were immediately dismissed.

In 2003 (thirteen years after Habré fell), the AVCRP secured a first grant from the UN Fund for Torture Victims to provide direct assistance for Habré's victims, allowing it to distribute the first 100 sacks of corn meal. The AVCRP is hopeful it can multiply this assistance in the future with UN help.

On the fourth anniversary of Habré's indictment,
AVCRP leader Ismaël Hachim summed up the situation when he said that, “Hissène Habré is being prosecuted abroad, but we, his victims, are being forgotten. Four years after Hissène Habré's indictment and fourteen years after he was swept from power, we continue to wait for the Chadian government and society to address the suffering that we and
our families endured.”
[46]