OpEdNews - Diary: About Zoe's Ark

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Since the debate over Chadian children and French charity group Zoe’s Ark is generating passionate debate here at Opednews, I thought of putting together some information on the organization and Chad.

Zoe’s Ark

According to Reuters, Zoe’s Ark was founded in December 26, 2004 during the Asian Tsunami. Eric Breteau heads the French offshoot of the organization, which has 50 active volunteers.

The one registered in Australia as Zoe’s Ark Foundation, is headquartered in Melbourne, is headed by entrepreneur Guillaume Catala. It is registered as a foreign NGO in the Indonesian tsunami relief database.

Breteau and Catala parted ways after 2005.

There is some confusion over Zoe’s Ark France and The Foundation. Here is what Scoop, an independent new source based in New Zealand reported on this, “But then confusion sets in. The site I visited last week appears to have become “the new Arche de Zoe site”. The tsunami pages have been rewritten to give a retrospective account. This change is likely to be connected with the message that appeared last week here stating that “Zoe's Ark Foundation Inc. has no legal link nor associated with, related to or connected with the French charity ‘L'Arche de Zoé’ and Zoe's Ark Foundation Inc. does not endorse or condone any of the activities undertaken by the French charity ‘L'Arche de Zoé’. Zoe's Ark Foundation Inc. was set up for Tsunami relief which ceased operations in December 2006.”

As well as its tsunami pages, the old Arche de Zoe website also had pages on Darfur which had a completely different tone from the tsunami pages. These appear in substantially the same form on the new site. A press statement put out on the International Day for Darfur, 28 April accused the United Nations and the international community of “once again demonstrating its inability to prevent this massacre”.

International Controversy

UNICEF has come out strongly against the French rescue workers who planned to evacuate the 103 Chadian children. Reuters news report says that, the UN agency has said what the volunteers is clearly against international law. That same report also says that in August, months before the incident took place, the French government had warned Zoe’s Ark that there is no proof that the children they were planning to rescue were actually orphans or helpless.

This is not the only time Zoe’s Ark has been dragged into a controversy. On November 12, The Australian reported that motorcycle champion Wayne Gardner claimed that he has been duped by Zoe’s Ark. He denied he is a patron of the Foundation and has said that he is very disappointed with the group.

There is also the dispute with Save the Children organization. According to Third Sector, Zoe’s Ark had been working in Chad under a name that has same Arabic translation as the name used by Save the Children. After the child rescue fiasco, Save the Children requested Zoe’s Ark to stop using the name. A spokesman for Save the Children is reported as saying that they are very serious about what is going on and would look into legal recourse if Zoe’s Ark does not honor their request.

Chad in Numbers

Population:9,885,661 (July 2007 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: male: 46.17 years, female: 48.27 years (2007 est.)

Literacy: male: 56%, female: 39.3% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita: $1,500 (2006 est.)

Population below poverty line: 80%(2001 est)

Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 234,000 (Sudan), 41,246 (Central African Republic) IDPs: 100,000 (2006)

Sources

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0153299120071101

http://www.indonesia-relief.org/mod.php?mod=bank&op=infobank&bankid=244

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0711/S00107.htm

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KHII-78N3LF?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P