* Adopted by the pre-sessional working group on 20 February 2024 .

List of issues and questions in relation to the fifth periodic report of Chad *

General context

1.Please provide information and statistics, disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, disability status, ethnicity, geographical location and socioeconomic background, on the current situation of women in the State party, to enable monitoring of the implementation of the Convention. In accordance with the State party’s obligations under articles 1 and 2 of the Convention, and in line with target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere), please indicate how the State party intends to improve the collection and analysis of data pertaining to the areas covered by the Convention, so as to support policymaking, programme development and service delivery and to measure progress towards the implementation of the Convention and the promotion of substantive equality between women and men, including with regard to the specific areas covered in the present document.

Women’s rights and gender equality in relation to the pandemic, recovery efforts and global crises

2.Please describe efforts made and mechanisms put in place to respond to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its long-term impact, and ways to apply these in the State party’s response to current and future crises, such as armed conflict, food insecurity, energy crises and other relevant areas. Please provide information on strategies taken to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are a fundamental requirement in addressing such crises and in elaborating adequate responses, such as policies, the scope of essential services, assistance programmes, recovery efforts and the application of the rule of law. Please also provide information on measures taken to ensure the equal and meaningful participation of women in these processes and to ensure that such crises will not lead to a reversal of progress made in the protection and promotion of women’s rights.

Harmonization of laws

3.Please provide information on:

(a)The precedence of national law over customary laws, and the efforts undertaken to ensure the harmonization of statutory and customary laws, including information on the status of the review of legislative compliance;

(b)The measures taken to raise awareness of the precedence of national law over customary law and of the Convention over national law, within the judiciary and among traditional and religious leaders;

(c)Efforts undertaken to adopt a comprehensive law that prohibits discrimination, and specify the timeline for its adoption;

(d)Key features of the draft code on the person and the family, in particular the provisions relating to matrimonial property, inheritance and lineage, and how it conforms with and implements the State party’s obligations under the Convention.

Women’s access to justice

4.Please provide information on:

(a)Training provided to judges, prosecutors and lawyers on the Convention in the past five years;

(b)Statistics on legal aid and free legal assistance provided to women and girls at the new offices for access to law and justice in the five courts of appeal in the past five years.

National machinery for the advancement of women

5.Please provide the Committee with:

(a)Detailed information on the mandate, authority and oversight, capacity and resources of the Observatory for the Promotion of Gender Equality and Equity in Chad and on the operations and services of the listening centre and the radio station created within the Maison nationale de la femme;

(b)Explanations on what mechanisms have been put in place to implement the national gender policy and how the State party coordinates and monitors the implementation of the policy;

(c)Data on the impact and outcome of the national gender policy;

(d)Information on mechanisms to promote the participation of, and consultations with, women’s organizations in the adoption and implementation of public policies and programmes.

National human rights institution

6.Please inform the Committee about:

(a)Measures taken to strengthen the National Human Rights Commission to enable it to effectively and independently discharge its mandate in full compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles);

(b)Steps taken by the National Human Rights Commission to apply for accreditation by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions;

(c)The mandate of the National Human Rights Commission as it specifically relates to women’s rights and the number of women’s rights cases handled in the past five years.

Temporary special measures

7.Please indicate the areas covered by the Convention in which women remain underrepresented or disadvantaged and indicate how temporary special measures are being utilized to accelerate the achievement of substantive equality between women and men in those areas.

Gender stereotypes

8.The Committee notes the information provided in the State party report on a variety of initiatives to strengthen understanding of the equality of women and men (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, paras. 58–64). Please explain any steps taken to put into place a comprehensive strategy, with a budget and results-oriented targets, benchmarks and incentives, to eliminate gender stereotypes and patriarchal attitudes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society.

9.It is indicated in the report that the revision of curricula took place in the education system (para. 62). Please provide detailed information on the revision of school curricula and textbooks, as well as teacher training, aimed at eliminating gender stereotypes on the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society that have taken place over the past five years.

Harmful practices

10.Please provide the Committee with detailed information on measures taken to combat harmful practices, such as sororate, levirate and polygamy, targeting religious and community leaders and community interest groups, in particular in rural and remote areas.

Gender-based violence against women

11.Please provide the Committee with:

(a)Information on measures taken to ensure the implementation of Act No. 001/PR/2017, criminalizing a large number of acts of gender-based violence, and the national strategy to combat gender-based violence;

(b)Data on reported and investigated cases of and prosecutions and convictions for child and/or forced marriage, and on the sentences imposed on perpetrators, in accordance with the Criminal Code, in the past five years (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, para. 71);

(c)Information on measures taken to ensure the effective enforcement of the minimum age of marriage at 18 years and, in particular, measures taken to detect cases of child and/or forced marriage;

(d)Data on complaints of all forms of gender-based violence against women, disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity, geographical location and relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, and on prosecutions, convictions and sentences imposed on perpetrators in the past five years;

(e)Data on reported cases of gender-based violence targeted at women and girls with disabilities and information on measures, including technology-based services, to aid the identification and detection of perpetrators; and data on prosecutions, convictions and sentences imposed on perpetrators in the past five years;

(f)Information on mandatory capacity-building activities on the prevention and detection of, response to and management of all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, for law enforcement and judicial officials, health-care and social workers and other professionals who deal with gender-based violence and interact with victims, including in rural areas.

Female genital mutilation

12.Please provide:

(a)Data on the prevalence of female genital mutilation among girls up to the age of 14 years in the State party;

(b)Information on the action plan and road map to eliminate female genital mutilation, including information on: (i) planned measures targeting traditional and religious leaders, educators, health-care providers, social workers, magistrates and police officers; (ii) alternative livelihoods for female genital mutilation practitioners; (iii) the annual budget allocation to support the plan and road map; and (iv) the systematic monitoring and evaluation framework of the plan and road map;

(c)Data on investigations in cases of female genital mutilation, on prosecutions and convictions and on the sentences imposed on perpetrators in accordance with the Criminal Code in the past five years (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, paras. 72–74).

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

13.Please provide information on:

(a)The work of the National Commission to Combat Trafficking in Persons since its creation by Decree No. 0151/PR/MJCDH/2021 of 8 February 2021 (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, para. 97), and its human, financial and technical resources;

(b)The development and implementation of a comprehensive national action plan on the elimination of trafficking and the setting up and financing of shelters for victims;

(c)Reported cases, criminal investigations, prosecutions and convictions in trafficking in persons crimes, including sentences, since the adoption of Ordinance No. 006/PR/2018 of 30 March 2018, on combating trafficking in persons (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, para. 96);

(d)Identified victims of trafficking in the past five years, in the form of data disaggregated by sex, age, nationality and geographical location, and forms of exploitation of women and girls;

(e)Measures taken to prevent women and girls from becoming victims of trafficking and data on victims covering the past five years.

14.Please inform the Committee about measures taken to reduce the demand for prostitution and to provide women in prostitution with exit programmes and support services.

Participation in political and public life

15.Please provide information on:

(a)The implementation of the quota of 30 per cent women among elected and appointed officials established by Act No. 22 of 2018 (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, para. 105), and its impact on achieving transformative results across sectors;

(b)The implementation of the Electoral Code published pursuant to Act No. 33 of 22 July 2019 (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, para. 107), and its impact on achieving transformative results and changing stereotypes regarding women’s leadership;

(c)Measures taken to ensure the equal representation of women in decision-making positions in the Government, the judiciary, the civil and foreign services, boards of public enterprises, and private sector companies;

(d)Campaigns to raise awareness among politicians, the media, teachers, religious and community leaders and the general public about the importance and added value for society of the participation of women in decision-making at all levels.

Women and peace and security

16.Please provide:

(a)Data, disaggregated by age, ethnicity, religion, disability status and rural or urban area, on the participation of women in conflict resolution and peace processes (CEDAW/C/TCD/5, para. 123);

(b)Information on the implementation status and costing of the national action plan to implement Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), its linkages to the national security architecture and the resources allocated for its implementation.

Education

17.Please provide the Committee with:

(a)Data on the gross enrolment rate of girls and boys and the progress towards parity at different levels in the past five years;

(b)Data on dropout rates for girls in secondary and higher education due to child and/or forced marriage, pregnancy or discriminatory gender stereotypes that favour boys’ access to education;

(c)The number of cases of heads of educational establishments or training schools who have been the subject of investigations for refusing to recruit a student or to reinstate her due to pregnancy under article 369 of the Criminal Code, and the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentences handed down;

(d)Information on measures taken to increase the proportion of girls pursuing secondary, technical and vocational education, as well as those attending higher education institutions, including in remote areas.

Employment

18.Please provide the Committee with:

(a)Up-to-date data on the female unemployment rate and the representation of women in each sector of economic activity, in the formal economy and the informal economy;

(b)Current data on the representation of women at different hierarchical levels of employment (lower hierarchical levels, middle levels, director positions, top executive positions and business leaders);

(c)Information on measures taken to promote women’s access to formal employment and to eliminate horizontal and vertical segregation;

(d)Data on the prevalence of sexual harassment of women in the workplace and information on any systems in place to monitor and prevent this type of harassment and to encourage victims to file complaints against perpetrators;

(e)Data on complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace that have been the subject of investigations under article 341 of the Criminal Code and the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentences handed down.

Health

19.Please provide the Committee with:

(a)Information on the national health-care policy for 2016–2030 and national action plan, the main areas of intervention and special measures concerning women’s health;

(b)Up-to-date information about the number of midwives per woman of childbearing age, especially in rural and remote areas;

(c)The results of the national survey on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, including among pregnant women and girls, disaggregated by sex, age and geographical region;

(d)Information on the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among women and girls and on measures taken to establish preventive reproductive health programmes such as free screening programmes;

(e)Updated data on the prevalence of early pregnancies, disaggregated by age and geographical region;

(f)Information on access to safe abortion services.

Economic empowerment and social benefits

20.Please provide the following:

(a)Information on the new national microfinance strategy, replacing the prior one (2009–2013), and data on women beneficiaries;

(b)Information on mechanisms for ensuring equal access for women to loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit and providing them with financial services, including financial technology (fintech), microcredit at low interest rates, start-up and scale-up funds, venture capital, and equipment financing and leasing;

(c)Data on women who are working in the informal economy, self-employed or engaged in agricultural work;

(d)Current data on the participation rate of women in the social security system and the availability of social protection, including buffers, for women in the informal sector and self-employed women.

Rural women

21.The Committee notes the information provided in the report on a variety of initiatives relating to rural women (paras. 245–252). In the light of the concerns expressed by the Committee in its previous concluding observations (CEDAW/C/TCD/CO/1-4, para. 38), please explain:

(a)What mechanisms allow women to participate in the development and implementation of local development plans, and how the State party ensures their effective participation;

(b)What obstacles rural women face in accessing health care and what measures the State party is taking to ensure access to and the affordability of health care;

(c)What steps are taken to guarantee that rural women can exercise their right to productive resources, including access to land and water, and in particular the right to property;

(d)What measures are taken to overcome sociocultural barriers, such as inheritance rights, that restrict women’s access to land;

(e)What measures are taken to expand access by rural women to microfinance or microcredit at low interest rates in all parts of the territory and to seed and accelerator funds to enable them to engage in income-generating activities, start their own businesses and strengthen their economic resilience.

Disadvantaged groups of women

22.Please provide information on:

(a)Training conducted on gender-based violence, including on methods of prevention and effective response, for officials in charge of securing and managing refugee camps and internally displaced person sites hosting refugee and internally displaced women and girls, including the number of participating female officers, in the past five years;

(b)Reports of incidents of gender-based violence, in particular sexual violence, from refugee and internally displaced women and girls, the investigations undertaken and perpetrators involved, acquittals and convictions and the sanctions handed down against perpetrators in the past five years;

(c)Intersecting forms of discrimination and the specific challenges faced by nomadic women, women with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups of women.

Marriage and family relations

23.Recalling the Committee’s previous recommendations (CEDAW/C/TCD/CO/1‑4, para. 43), please provide information on the measures foreseen in the draft code on the person and the family to guarantee equal inheritance rights of women, recognize the full legal capacity of women and prohibit polygamy, and update the Committee on the status of the draft, including information on the time frame for its adoption.