Chad
Hissène Habré's rule over the former French
colony of Chad from 1982 to 1990 was marked by numerous and credible
allegations of systematic torture and crimes against humanity. On
September 27, 2005 a Belgian judge issued an international arrest
warrant charging Hissène Habré with atrocities during
his 1982-90 rule.
Since July 2002, HRDAG has been working with
Human Rights
Watch (HRW) to analyze thousands of documents belonging to the
former secret police (the "Documentation and Security Directorate,"
DDS). The documents contain detailed accounts of the interrogations,
movements, and deaths of prisoners, as well as information on the
internal functioning of the DDS. In order to facilitate rigorous
qualitative and quantitative analysis of this important evidence,
HRDAG developed a Document Mapper database that cross-references
individuals and institutions cited in the DDS documents.
In November 2003, HRDAG team members Miguel Cruz, Kristen
Cibelli, and Jana Dudukovic conducted a preliminary analysis of
available DDS documents entitled
Preliminary Statistical Analysis
of AVCRP & DDS Documents - A report to Human Rights Watch about
Chad under the government of Hissène Habré, November
4, 2003
(Adobe Acrobat PDF format, 151kB). This analysis found that detainees
within the DDS prisons were at least 16 times more likely to die
than the general public. This mortality analysis drew on both the
DDS's own administrative records and victim-based testimonies. The
report was given to the Belgian judge to inform his preparation
of the indictment.
In early July 2005, HRDAG team members Romesh Silva and Scott Weikart
contributed statistical analysis to a Human Rights Watch Report
"Chad: The Victims of
Hissène Habré Still Awaiting Justice." HRDAG's analysis presented new descriptive
statistical analysis about the pattern of detention and deaths-in-detention which
had been documented in official records of the DDS. This analysis found that:
- A total of 12,321 different victims were mentioned in the recovered administrative
documents from the DDS. These victims were mentioned 39,981 times in 1,941 different
documents.
- 93.5% (37,371/39,981) of the transcribed victim names appeared in documents
which originated from the DDS itself.
- In the DDS documents retrieved by HRW, Hissène Habré received 1,265 direct
communications from the DDS about the status of 898 detainees, 33.3% (296/898)
of these victims were mentioned in multiple separate communications to Habré.
HRDAG's database and statistical work also contributed to the presentation of
evidence against 41 of the highest-ranking former agents of the DDS. In response to this
report, on August 11th the Prime-Minister of Chad declared that it will remove all current
officials who served as DDS agents under for dictator Hissène Habré, from their official
duties. At the same time, the Chadian government announced its intentions to provide
compensation and to erect a monument to honor the memory of the victims of political
repression under Habré's dictatorship. A victory for good science, technology, and
human rights!
As part of this ongoing effort, HRDAG has been invited to extend its analysis
further to strengthen the prosecution's case against Habré and raise international
awareness about the case. In response to this invitation, HRDAG is currently developing a
in-depth statistical report on evidence of crimes of policy by Habré's administration.
This report will use the administrative records recovered from the former DDS headquarters
to assess the superior-subordinate relationships within the DDS bureaucracy, the extent of
knowledge which Habré and senior DDS officials had of serious human rights abuses within
he DDS and their failure to act in accordance with international human rights norms. This
report will be released jointly by HRDAG and HRW in October, 2005. |