From 10-12 July 2019, representatives from government agencies and civil society in Chad, as well as the African Union, the Multi-National Joint Task Force, and United Nations entities met in N’Djamena to discuss Chad’s strategy to screen and prosecute persons associated with Boko Haram. Part of a regional effort to help Lake Chad Basin countries (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria), the workshop sought to strengthen the way Chad prosecutes, rehabilitates, and reintegrates individuals associated with Boko Haram, in compliance with international requirements such as those stemming from the Security Council, as well as regional guidance provided by the Lake Chad Basin Commission’s Regional Stabilization Strategy.
The Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) conveyed the requirements regarding strategies for prosecution, rehabilitation, and reintegration outlined by the Security Council in its resolutions, in particular 2396 (2017). These resolutions support a comprehensive approach in terms of the handling of individuals associated with Boko Haram. An example of a principle adopted during the workshop is that screening (the step during which information is collected on a person to help find the most appropriate response) should involve two phases: the initial collection of information should be carried out by the first agency that came into contact with the individual concerned; the second phase should be conducted by a range of professionals (including criminal justice professionals, the military, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Women and Children) in order to ensure that each agency’s specific concerns were taken into consideration.
The workshop was organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the support of CTED and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and in partnership with the African Union and the Multi-National Joint Task Force, and was funded by the Government of the United States.