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 ...
ian
human rights activist
A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...
. A member of the Chadian Human Rights League since 1992, she has headed the Association of Women for Development and a Culture of Peace in Chad since 2004. In 2016, she was arrested for participating in a demonstration against the re-election of President
Idriss Déby
Idriss Déby Itno ( '; 18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the sixth List of heads of state of Chad, president of Chad from 1991 until his death in 2021 during the 2021 Northern Chad offensive, No ...
for a fifth term and held in prison for three weeks. As of mid-2021, she continues to uphold human rights, campaigning against unacceptable conditions for those sent off to work in the country's gold mines.
Biography
Born in Chad's capital
N'Djamena
N'Djamena ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Chad, largest city of Chad. It is also a Provinces of Chad, special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements'', similar to the city of Paris.
Originally calle ...
(formerly Fort Lamy) on 29 October 1964, Céline Narmadji was brought up in a modest home by a father who worked for the Ministry of Agriculture as a technician and a mother who took care of the family. She has been active in supporting
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
and
women's rights
Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
since the early 1990s. While participating in the Chadian Human Rights League (Ligue tchadienne des droits de l'Homme) and the Association of Women for Development and a Culture of Peace in Chad (Association des femmes pour le développement et la culture de la paix au Tchad), she arranged training facilities for women and children in various parts of the country and campaigned against the mistreatment of women and child slavery.
In October 2014, she became the spokesperson for Enough is Enough (Trop c'est trop), which brought together some 15
civil rights organization
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...
s striving to improve conditions for the local population. She organized demonstrations against human rights violations and the mismanagement of public assets by encouraging the clanging of pots and pans and instigating "dead city days". In 2016, the coalition arranged protests against the re-election of President Déby for a fifth term. In March 2016, a month before the 2016 election, Narmadji was arrested for "opposing a legitimate authority, attempting to disrupt public order and encouraging an unarmed gathering." On 14 April 2016, she was sentenced to four months' suspended imprisonment but was in fact held for three weeks in Amsinéné Prison together with other activists.
Undeterred by her treatment, Narmadji has continued to fight for human rights both nationally and internationally. In her own words, "Our fight is aimed at achieving lasting change so that our children and grandchildren can live in peace in this country." In the summer of 2021, she was focusing on preventing the exploitation of young Chadians who were being sent from their villages to work in the gold mines in the far north of Chad and in the south of Libya. She believed the practice could be discontinued by informing village leaders and local communities of the mistreatment their youths were subjected to while working under slave-like conditions in the mines.