The 2007 Zoé's Ark controversy started when members of a French

charity organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

, the

Zoé's Ark Zoé's Ark () is a French charity organization with the aim of increasing awareness of the crisis in Darfur and providing aid for children affected by the conflict. The organization was brought into the public's awareness in 2007 with the arrest ...

(), attempted to fly 103 children out of

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

to France. The members of the charity were charged and eventually convicted of

child abduction Child abduction or child theft is the unauthorized removal of a Minor (law), minor (a child under the age of Age of majority, legal adulthood) from the Child custody, custody of the child's Parent, natural parents or Legal guardian, legally appoi ...

.''Profile: Zoe's Ark''
BBC News, Last Updated: Monday, 29 October 2007. Consulted on 29 December 2007.

Background

Events and trial

On 30 October 2007, six members of the charity organization Zoé's Ark were formally charged by the

government of Chad The Government of Chad (French: ''Gouvernement du Tchad'') has been ruled by Mahamat Déby since 20 April 2021 as part of the National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established ...

for child abduction. Despite the group's claim that the children were

orphans An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages, such as Swedis ...

from

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

who were being taken to be fostered in France, most of the 103 children were found to be Chadian, and to have had at least one living parent or guardian. Three journalists, seven SpanishFrench Charity Workers Sentenced (Times Online)
Accessed 26 December 2007 Girjet flight crew members, four Chadian and Sudanese nationals, including two Chadian officials, were also charged for complicity. Allegedly, some parents were convinced to give up their infants for promises of schooling, but had been told that the schooling would occur in Chad rather than France, while some children were offered sweets and biscuits to leave home. These claims were denied by the aid workers. The incident strained Franco-Chadian relations, ahead of a planned deployment of French peacekeeping troops into the country. Anti-French protests were staged within Chad. Over the course of the trial, all six aid workers participated in a hunger strike. Possibly as a result, one of the accused fainted in court and required hospitalization. The six were protesting at what they perceived as abandonment by French authorities. French president Nicolas Sarkozy successfully negotiated the dropping of charges and release of the journalists and flight crew members prior to trial. Six members of the group were convicted on 26 December 2007 and sentenced to eight years of forced labor, although they, ultimately, were instead incarcerated for five months in France, which has no forced labor in its penal system, under an accord between Chad and France. The six were released in March 2008 but were ordered to pay each of the 103 victims restitution equal to approximately $87,000, which amounts to $8.9M per defendant. A Chadian national and a Sudanese national were each also sentenced to four years. The two Chadian officials were acquitted. In March 2008 the president of Chad pardoned the convicted aid-workers, and they were released from the prisons in France.Chad president pardons French charity workers
ny Angelique Chrisafis, The Guardian, 1 April 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2007 Zoe's Ark Controversy 2007 in France, Zoés Ark Controversy, 2007 Adoption law Adoption history Law of Chad Foreign relations of France Zoés Ark Controversy, 2007 Zoés Ark Controversy, 2007