“No one said I was doing wrong”: French families tell of motives for signing up with agency at centre of Chad abduction inquiry
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2235
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
The Guardian
Bertrande Allemand, a http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1986 who entertains sick children in hospitals in rural France, describes herself as someone who wants to ease the suffering in the world. So when a friend told her about a French aid association planning to evacuate hundreds of Darfur orphans and place them with families in France, she went online and signed up.
Unable to afford the standard requested donation of around €2,000 (£1,400), she petitioned friends and local businesses to donate to the charity direct. She scraped together the €90 joining fee, went to meetings in Paris and prepared to decorate a bedroom for the orphan who she imagined would be aged five.
The 33-year-old single mother of toddler twins was already fostering a disabled Romanian orphan who has lived with her for five years. She knew that taking in a black child would be even more difficult in what she called a rural climate of racism and small-mindedness. There are no black people in her village. But she felt the child would be better off in France. “I wanted to save an orphan from war and hunger. I wanted there to be one less child suffering in the world. None of us were doing anything wrong,” she told the Guardian.Yesterday, seven French people from the association Zoe’s Ark remained in detention in Chad, charged with abduction and fraud after they were stopped trying to fly 103 children out of the impoverished African country which borders Sudan’s Darfur region. Two French journalists and seven Spanish crew members of the plane they had chartered were also being held. The French accused face hard labour of 5 to 20 years if convicted.
Zoe’s Ark, a group set up by a French fireman to help tsunami victims in 2005, has claimed it was evacuating Darfur orphans to be fostered by French families. But Chadian and French authorities say the operation was illegal. Some of the children, aged 3 to 10, were allegedly bandaged to make them look ill and the United Nations believes many are from Chad and not orphans at all.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sudan/story/0,,2202840,00.html
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released a joint statement hanging Zoe’s Ark out to dry. As professional busybodies (they boast that they “advised” Chad officials that the children would need to be fed, clothed and given places to sleep!) they interviewed the children, some of whom, we now find out, were as young as one. As a result, the Red Cross/UN workers are saying that an overwhelming number (85 out of 103) were not even refugees, while 91 of the 103 were not orphans at all! The joint press release from the Red Cross/UN follows:
Press Release 07/109
Chad: Joint action by the ICRC, UNHCR and UNICEF in behalf of the 103 Abéché children
Abéché – 1.11.2007 – Since the events of 25 October that led to the arrest of members of the “Children Rescue/Arche de Zoé” organization, the staff and partner organizations of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have been working to meet the needs of the 103 children currently living in the Abéché orphanage.
Given the circumstances of the children’s arrival in Abéché, it was necessary to take swift action and ensure that suitable accommodation and care were provided. With this aim, and taking the children’s ages into account, the ICRC, UNHCR and UNICEF suggested to the Chadian authorities that they provide food, bedding, clothing and hygiene items, as well as assistance in the areas of health care and sanitation, with support from partner organizations (such as the Red Cross of Chad).
Paramount for these organizations is the best interests of the boys and girls. Staff therefore spent the first days after the children’s arrival listening to them in order to learn as many things as possible that could indicate what had happened and to help them, as far as possible, to resume living normal children’s lives.
Individual conversations took place over several days with the 21 girls and 82 boys aged 1 to 10 years, some of whom were unable to provide basic information because of their age. The information gathered suggested that 85 of them were from villages in the border area between Chad and Sudan near the towns of Adré and Tiné.
During their discussions with humanitarian workers, 91 of the children referred to a family environment consisting of at least one adult whom they considered a parent. Talks are continuing with the 12 others to obtain information that could lead to progress in the search for the families and/or close relations.
The humanitarian organizations aiding the children are maintaining a close watch on their general well-being and on their health in particular, which for the time being is not a cause for concern. Some of the children have been treated for minor injuries.
Staff from the ICRC, UNHCR and UNICEF, their partner organizations and representatives of the Chadian authorities are continuing their efforts to piece together the background, status and identity of the children in order to adapt their work case by case and according to the specific needs and situation of each of them. This work is in support of the authorities and based on the principles of impartiality and non-discrimination.
The work, which must focus on maintaining the health and well-being of the young children, is time-consuming and laborious because of the number of children involved, their young age, the importance of obtaining as much information as possible as quickly as possible, and the situation in the area.
The information gathered was forwarded to the Chadian authorities under whose responsibility the children have been placed. In the coming days and weeks the ICRC, UNHCR and UNICEF, with support from their partner organizations, will carry on with this work in order to help find a quick and suitable way of enabling all 103 children to return to games, family life and the other concerns of a child.