15 November 2003
Throughout October 2003, the network of organizations active around the oil sector in Chad ran a public campaign to call attention to oustanding and emerging problems associated with this project. Overviews of the month's events and press releases are available in French.
Human rights associations, labor unions, women's organizations, community groups and other NGOs belonging to the coalition of civil society organizations monitoring petroleum sector activities in Chad coordinated a series of activities during the weeks leading up and to and following the official "first oil" ceremony for the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline, held on October 10, 2003. These activities sought to raise awareness about new oil developments and the oil revenue management system and included, among others:
- a call to a National Day of Mourning on October 10;
- information dissemination and outreach to communities affected by new oil developments concerning the impacts of petroleum exploitation;
- national press conferences and debates with government representatives;
- radio broadcasts on the state of human rights abuses and repression in the Doba basin project area.
The coalition circulated weekly updates about the campaign's objectives and activities, available in French.