“Don’t Forget Us”: The Education and Gender-Based Violence Protection Needs of Adolescent Girls from Darfur in Chad

The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children visited 10 refugee camps in eastern Chad in January 2005 as part of a three-week mission to examine the protection of adolescent girls, with a particular focus on education and reproductive health in the camps. This 48-page document is a report of their findings and includes recommendations for action.

From the executive summary

“More than 220,000 Sudanese from Darfur have fled the ongoing violence in their region and crossed the border into the desert of eastern Chad. Most of the refugees are now in camps; however, at the time of the Women’s Commission visit, several thousand remained on the border or on the periphery of some camps, waiting to be registered...

Adolescent girls

In Darfur, the concept of “adolescence” as a developmental stage does not exist....While many of the girls in the 11-18 year age group share most of the same duties as their mothers, one major difference is that many of the girls are in school for the very first time. This is an opportunity they would not have had in Darfur and which their mothers never had.

Education

At the time of the Women’s Commission’s visit, all 11 refugee camps had education programs. In most camps this included primary grades 1-6, some adult literacy classes, and some preschool. In more than half of the camps, refugees who had education experience as teachers and administrators in Darfur started schools in the camps prior to the arrival of the humanitarian community... [However,] adequate shelters for schools, school supplies or guidance to teachers or camp management [were lacking]... The few women teachers in the camps teach only the lowest grades. Young people who have completed grade eight have no opportunities for education or skills training.

Gender based violence

...Health staff reported that women pregnant as a result of rape did not report the rape due to the social stigma attached. There were some reports of women abandoning babies of the janjaweed; however, in other camps programs were being developed with refugee communities to integrate and support mothers and their children born as a result of rape.... At the time of the Women’s Commission mission, very little psychosocial assistance was available to girls and women victims of gender-based violence.

Other issues

The Women’s Commission found a number of other issues during the course of the mission. One was the problem of unregistered refugees, who have in some cases been waiting for months for assistance; they cannot receive assistance until they are given official documentation by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)....

Tensions are increasing between the refugees and the host communities in many areas. The villages surrounding the camps are among the poorest in the world; a poor harvest last year has made their situation even worse.”

The document offers the following recommendations that may require communication for development support:

Adolescent Girls:

• Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations agencies need to keep pushing for girls and young women to take part in decision-making in camp management, youth committees, women’s groups, and in schools; and
• each organisation working on the ground should have a gender specialist and should implement projects with a gender perspective. Funding must be earmarked for this purpose.

Gender Based Violence (GBV):

• GBV specialists should be hired to train teacher coordinators and others about GBV, including sexual exploitation and a code of conduct;
• sensitisation must begin on ways to change the gender-specific task of wood gathering; and
• a formal system for reporting incidents of gender-based violence must be set up in the camps.

Education:

• provide information as to why everyone benefits when children attend school;
• develop a system in the camps that discourages early marriage while following international law;
• encourage young married girls to attend school;
• human rights education needs to be a central component of the curriculum; and
• health education programmes should be established.