Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS)

The Détachement intégré de Sécurité (DIS) is a police service composed of selected members of the Chadian Police and Gendarmerie that is responsible for maintaining law and order in refugee camps and other sites with concentrations of internally displaced persons (IDPs). This service, which was envisaged by a UN report, was authorised by Security Council Resolution 1778. It was established with UN assistance in 2008, and became a formidable police service in eastern Chad. DIS is made up of Chadian gendarmes and police officers. It is a corps that was specifically established for the maintenance of law and order in refugee camps, internally displaced persons sites and key towns in eastern Chad, and to help to provide security for humanitarian operations in that part of the country.

The Détachement intégré de Sécurité (DIS) was created by the Chadian Government and the United Nations Police (MINURCAT) to help secure internally displaced person camps in the eastern part of the country. Conflict and post-conflict countries are often characterized by a collapse of public law and order and major security and human rights deficits, leading to the erosion of public confidence in the security sector. The presence of United Nations police, however, contributes to restoring popular confidence in the host State police1 and in rule of law structures as a whole.

The representative of Chad, Ahmad Allam-mi, affirmed his country’s commitment and resolve in October 2010 to effectively fulfil its mission to protect civilians, including refugees and internally displaced persons, until their voluntary return to their homes. The implementation of the updated plan for the Détachement Intégré de Sécurité would enable that force to guarantee security in refugee and internally displaced persons’ camps, to enable provision of security escorts and in coordination with the Gendarmerie Nationale and the Garde Nationale et Nomade du Tchad, to maintain security in the area.

The UN Secretary-General said 10 October 2010 that “The Détachement Intégré de Sécurité must not be allowed to fail because of lack of funding,” he says, noting that arrangements are being considered for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to establish and administer a successor trust fund for the force, should that be the desire of the Government and potential donors, until the requisite national structure and capacity are assured. As mandated construction projects in support of the Détachement operation would likely not be finished by the MINURCAT withdrawal, a small cell of engineers and administrative staff will stay to oversee them, with those projects expected to be finished by the end of the Mission’s liquidation period.

Within the framework of its mandate to protect refugees and IDPs in eastern Chad, the DIS decided to increase the number of women in its ranks in order to become a modern, credible, and most of all, efficient service on the ground. The US Ambassador in Chad said about the DIS: “The Government of the United States hopes that the experience of the DIS vis-à-vis the struggle against sexual and gender-based violence will be appreciated by the other elements of the Chadian security forces and the police as a measure of performance and professionalism to be emulated.”

When the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) selected a group of National Police and Gendarmerie officers to begin this service in January 2008 there was only one woman. A year later, in January 2009, the number of women reached 78 out of 745 officers. By September 2009, this number climbed to 87 women out of 803 officers. Chadian authorities and MINURCAT are determined to in- crease this ratio. In a socio-cultural environment based on ancestral values as is the case in eastern Chad, where women and men live separate lives, an increased number of women in the DIS can only be beneficial. In the current cultural context, these DIS women had a great advantage over men as they are more readily accepted by the refugee and IDP women, demonstrating that women are not only victims, but also protectors. The DIS women will also be able to better understand the concerns of female refugees and IDPs and to bet- ter include their demands in the overall DIS security plan.

On 16 September 2008 a special security unit of the Chadian army composed of national police and gendarmes responsible for the protection of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) began its first reconnaissance visit to eastern Chad, ahead of its deployment to the region, the United Nations announced. Some 70 members of the Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS), who had been trained by the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad, known as MINURCAT, toured Abeché, Goz Beida, Farchana, Iriba, Guereda and Bahai.

In May 2010 the UN Security Council decided to end the mission by 31 December 2010, after the Chadian Government requested the move and said it would assume full responsibility for protecting civilians on its territory. In requesting the withdrawal of MINURCAT, Chad pledged to take on responsibility for the protection of civilians through the use of its Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS), an integrated unit that the United Nations has been helping to train and support. By December 2010 all of MINURCAT’s administrative, management and operational responsibilities had been transferred to the Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS), under the supervision of United Nations police. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would be helping the Government of Chad sustain DIS through, among other things, the creation of a UNDP-managed “basket fund” and operational assistance provided by UNHCR.

Fears that widespread criminal activities would resume after the rainy season had proved to be unfounded thanks to the vigilance of the central and local authorities, the increased effectiveness of DIS and patrols by the joint Sudan-Chad border patrols. However, DIS would require continued assistance of the international community during the post-MINURCAT period.

Accordingly, Chad intended to maintain the structure of this efficient force, which has been well trained in accordance with international human rights standards, while expanding its size and providing it with more human and material resources, from the withdrawal of MINURCAT until such time as the Darfur and Central African Republic crisis is over and the refugees have returned to their homeland. Members of DIS remain Chadian gendarmes and police officers working in their own country and retain their national entitlements. They will be entitled to hazard pay which would replace the stipends paid by MINURCAT. The Government would assume full responsibility for DIS in terms of logistics, equipment and funding.

In 2010, the Government of Chad submitted a plan concerning the support to be provided to elements of the Détachement intégré de sécurité (DIS) following the departure of the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT). The plan is to include all measures for building the capacity of DIS to provide effective security in and around refugee camps and internally displaced persons sites, security escorts and area security, in coordination with the gendarmerie and the Nomad Guard (Garde nationale et nomade (GNNT)).