Author: US Department of State
Site of publication: State.Gov
Type of publication: Report
Date of publication: 2022
Respect for the Integrity of the Person
Disappearance
Human rights organizations reported disappearances carried out by government authorities. In May media reported the arrest of Abdoulaye Fofana, the former aide-de-camp of Guillaume Soro, a former prime minister and prominent opposition figure living abroad in self-exile and sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for conspiracy, attempted attack on the authority of the state, and disseminating false news. Media reported this arrest was under a warrant issued by the judiciary in 2021 for “disturbance of public order and illegal wearing of military costume” after Fofana released statements on social media calling for soldiers to support “mutiny.” A human rights organization reported that Fofana had been incarcerated since May 5, and both his condition and location were uncertain.
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and Other Related Abuses
In April authorities responded to a strike launched by students in Bouaké to protest living and study conditions. In a statement, a prominent student organization alleged that officials retaliated against the strike and student demonstrations with arrests, beatings, tear gas shots, confiscation of personal belongings (laptops, motorcycles, and cell phones), and vandalism of student rooms. The government ultimately released the students on May 24, three weeks after the strike, and dropped the charges.
Local nongovernmental organizations (NGO) reported that impunity was an occasional problem in the security forces. Detainees have the right to refer impunity cases directly to a judge, bypassing law enforcement. N’Gboado, a local NGO, stated that most detainees and victims of impunity were not aware of this right and, as a result, there are very few impunity cases. The government stated that there were no impunity trials this year and that training specific to impunity was not part of the standard curriculum.
Prison and Detention Center Conditions
The government acknowledged prison overpopulation remained a problem and that existing facilities, originally built to hold no more than 8,000 prisoners, were insufficient to hold the total prison population of more than 25,000 as of mid-August. In at least one prison, the inmates reportedly slept head-to-toe on the floor.
The government reported that, as of mid-August, 28 prisoners had died in prisons during the year. The government did not provide further details on the causes of death but noted none resulted from prisoner-on-prisoner violence.
Arbitrary Arrest or Detention
Police occasionally arrested individuals and held them without charge beyond the legal limit.
A human rights organization observed that ethnic groups frequently stereotyped as posing a security risk, notably the Fulani (also known as the Peuhl), were more likely to be subject to extended detention without notice of charges, and to be held far from family or counsel.
Political Prisoners and Detainees
The government denied there were political prisoners, although it arrested multiple members of opposition parties on various criminal charges at the end of 2019 and during 2020. Many of these persons were released in 2021. The government also released numerous persons arrested for crimes allegedly committed during the 2010-2011 presidential electoral period. Amnesty International, however, reported political parties-maintained lists of 107 political prisoners who were incarcerated following the series of opposition-party arrests in 2011, 2019, and 2020.
Freedom of Expansion, Including for Members of the Press and Other Media
In January authorities detained El Hadj Mamadou Traoré, a member of Guillaume Soro’s opposition party, after he made comments concerning the relationship between Mali and Cote d’Ivoire on his Facebook page. The government charged Traoré with “supporting terrorism and disseminating false information,” alleging that French military aircraft violated Malian airspace with “the complicity” of Cote d’Ivoire amid ECOWAS’s sanctions against the Malian government. Traoré was held in pretrial detention for six months and, following a guilty verdict in July, received a sentence of a year in prison. He was released on September 15.
On August 3, security forces detained at the airport for questioning for 24 hours Pulchérie Gbalet, President of Alternative Citoyenne Ivoirienne (Ivorian Citizen Alternative), a civil society organization that has, for several years, served as a prominent voice of opposition to President Alassane Ouattara and his political party Rally of the Houphouet Lists for Democracy and Peace (RHDP). She had gone to Mali, reportedly at the invitation of a Malian civil society organization, to better understand the case of the 49 Ivoirian soldiers detained in Mali since July 10 on the grounds of being mercenaries.
Censorship or Content Restrictions for Members of the Press and Other Media, Including Online Media: There are public and private radio and television stations. The government influences news coverage and program content on some of them. Both independent journalists and journalists affiliated with the state-owned media stated they regularly exercised self-censorship to avoid sanctions or reprisals from government officials. The government appoints some managers of government-affiliated outlets. The National Press Authority, the government’s print media regulatory body, briefly suspended or reprimanded newspapers and journalists for statements it contended were false, libelous, or perceived to incite xenophobia and hate. Human rights organizations reported the threat of legal action had a chilling effect on media coverage of certain topics, and media often only published stories critical of the government after the same reporting had appeared in international publications.
Freedom to Participate in the Political Process
During the year, authorities intervened in several local elections to respond to the eruption of conflict and violence. In February the regional authority suspended the ballot count in a mayoral race following conflict between representatives of the two leading parties, PDCI and RHDP. Media and civil society organizations reported that RHDP supporters allegedly seized the ballot box and destroyed ballots when the RHDP candidate appeared to trail significantly behind the PDCI candidate. Although the law requires the national voter registry to be updated annually, it was not revised in 2021. The next registration period was expected to take place from November 19 to December 10.
Participation of Women and Members of Minority Groups: No laws limit the participation of women and members of minority groups in the political process, and they did participate. The law requires women to constitute at least 30 percent of each political party’s candidates nationwide for legislative elections, but there are no penalties, and this quota was not met. As of August, no political party has amended its statutes or internal regulations to account for the quota.
Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government
In February the government announced that 70 civil servants had been prosecuted as a result of investigations that spanned numerous government offices in the security, transport, health, and justice sectors.
In April the government launched an audit of the logging sector, following the discovery of a vast network of illegal logging and bribery in protected forests. In May police announced the arrest of two students suspected of fraud and extortion, for paying approximately 137 million CFA francs ($223,000) for admission into the National School of Administration, the school charged with training future civil servants. Also in May, media reported that the head of criminal police in San Pedro, the second largest port city, had been arrested on suspicion of colluding with a drug trafficking network led by foreign nationals.
Governmental Posture Towards International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Abuses of Human Rights
During the year, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH, an International NGO which brings together a group of prominent local human rights organizations) published a report that argued, among other things, that the government failed in many respects to deliver accountability for the human rights abuses committed during the electoral crises of 2010/11 and 2020. The report attributed the failure to: 1) fleeting law enforcement engagement in initiatives to investigate and prosecute actors; and 2) political interference in judicial matters including decisions in prosecution and sentencing. It further cited the government’s decision to withdraw jurisdiction from the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights as evidence of possible backsliding on human rights enforcement, in view of the role of the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights serving as a “key element” in African regional justice.
Discrimination and Societal Abuses
Dignity and Rights for the Children of Côte d’Ivoire (DDE-CI), a human rights organization, and local press reported on the alleged rape and assault of a child aged nine in Abidjan. The survivor and her family filed a complaint with local police who arrested the alleged perpetrator. When the case was later transferred to a task force dedicated to handling crimes against children, the task force recommended the survivor accept a settlement in lieu of supporting referral of the case to the prosecutor for criminal prosecution. Authorities ultimately released the suspect after he agreed to pay 250,000 CFA francs ($407) to the young girl’s father.
A human rights organization reported several cases of high-profile individuals inciting rape, including the case of an actor announcing on a television program that he performed “lack cats”, a behavior that consists of breaking into a woman’s room at night and forcing nonconsensual sexual intercourse, on his cousin. The actor further stated this was a common and normal practice. The human rights organization reported that several complaints concerning this event were pending with the HACA.
Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C): The law specifically forbids FGM/C and provides penalties for practitioners of up to five years’ imprisonment and substantial fines. Double penalties apply to medical practitioners, including doctors, nurses, and medical technicians. Nevertheless, FGM/C remained a problem. The most recent 2016 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey indicated that the rate of FGM/C nationwide was 37 percent, with prevalence varying by region. A human rights organization indicated that up to the end of June, it received no formal reports filed concerning FGM/C, but another organization indicated tracking cases of FGM/C became more difficult as perpetrators modified their methods to evade tracking and prosecution. The organization reported that FGM/C was now frequently performed at birth.
Sexual Harassment
Health services for survivors of sexual violence existed, but costs of such services were often prohibitive, authorities often did not know to refer survivors to medical practitioners, and many medical practitioners were not trained in treatment of survivors of sexual violence. Emergency contraception was not always available as part of the clinical management of rape cases.
Discrimination: The law provides the same legal status and rights for women and men in labor law, although there were restrictions on women’s employment (see section 7.d., Discrimination with Respect to Employment and Occupation). The law establishes the right of widows to inherit property upon the deaths of their husbands equally with any children. Human rights organizations reported many religious and traditional authorities rejected laws intended to reduce gender-related inequality in household decision making.
Systemic Racial or Ethnic Violence and Discrimination
The country has more than 60 ethnic groups; human rights organizations reported ethnic discrimination was a problem. Authorities considered approximately 25 percent of the population foreign, although many within this category were second- or third-generation residents. Land ownership laws remained unclear and unimplemented, resulting in conflicts between native populations and other groups.
Media and human rights organizations published numerous reports during the year on the growing tensions in the northern part of the country between Fulani ethnic group members and non-Fulani farmers. According to reports, farmers had grown frustrated with Fulani herders permitting their herds to graze on farmers’ crops and often were compelled to purchase fences to protect their property. This resentment was exacerbated by the widespread belief that the Fulani were affiliated with violent extremist organizations. As a result, Fulani reported being subject to denunciation to authorities as well as arbitrary arrest and detention. Further, Fulani herders who were believed to permit their herd illicitly to graze on crops were often reported to Dozos, a fraternity of traditional hunters. According to reports, Dozos were more likely to treat Fulani suspects unfairly and subject them to beatings.
Children
Education: Primary schooling is obligatory, free, and open to all. To enter secondary school, children must pass an exam for which identity documents are required. As a result, children without documents could not continue their studies after primary school, (see section 2.g, Stateless Persons). Education was ostensibly free and compulsory for children ages six to 16, but families generally reported being asked to pay school fees, either to receive their children’s records or to pay for school supplies. Parents also often contributed to teachers’ salaries and living stipends, particularly in rural areas. Parents of children not in compliance with the law on mandatory education were reportedly subject to substantial fines or two to six months in jail, but this was seldom, if ever, enforced, and many children did not attend or have access to school.
Girls participated in education at lower rates than boys, particularly in rural areas. Although girls initially enrolled at a higher rate, their participation dropped below boys’ rates because of a cultural tendency to keep girls at home to care for younger siblings or to do other domestic work, and due to reported sexual harassment of girl students when traveling to school and, once at school, by teachers and other staff.
Child Abuse: A March 2020 government study on violence against children and youth younger than age 18 found that 19 percent of girls and 11 percent of boys had been victims of sexual violence and that 47 percent of girls and 61 percent of boys had been victims of physical violence. According to 2016 MICS-5 survey data, nearly nine out of 10 children, including more than 70 percent of children aged one to two and over 90 percent of those aged two to three, were subjected to violent discipline from an early age.
To assist child victims of violence and abuse, the government strengthened the child protection network in areas such as case management, the implementation of evidence-based prevention programs, data collection, and analysis.
Sexual Exploitation of Children: The law prohibits the use, recruitment, or offering of minors for commercial sex or use in pornographic films, pictures, or events. The law does not specifically address grooming children for commercial sexual exploitation. The minimum age for consensual sex is 18. Consensual sex with a person younger than age 15 is classified as rape. For victims between the age of 15 to 18, consent may be raised as a defense to a charge of rape. Authorities did not effectively enforce the law.
Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression, or Sex Characteristics
Violence against LGBTQI+ Persons: Authorities were at times slow and ineffective in their response to societal violence targeting the LGBTQI+ community. Further, LGBTQI+ persons often did not report violence committed or threatened against them, including assault or homicide, because they did not believe authorities would take their complaints seriously. FIDH related in a report several cases of rapes against LGBTQI+ persons including the cases of gay men subjected to “corrective rape” in the city of Bouaké. The Director of the Judicial Clinic of Bouaké reported that heterosexual men sometimes rape gay men to inflict pain on them and change their behavior. Fondygender, however, said that authorities are more understanding and better at handling complaints from the LGBTQI+ community than in previous years.
Discrimination: The law provides for various political, socioeconomic, and safety protections to everyone and prohibits discrimination based on several specific categories, but not sexual orientation. In April the acting National Assembly President commented on a widely debated, but ultimately defeated, legislative proposal to treat “sexual orientation” as a basis for discrimination, stating: “In the end, it was clearly understood that this was not an endorsement by parliamentarians of homosexuality, since this practice does not conform with our cultural or moral values and is contrary to the legislation in force concerning the definition of marriage.”
Persons with Disabilities
Persons with disabilities reportedly encountered serious discrimination in employment and education. Prisons and detention centers reportedly provided no accommodations for persons with disabilities.
During the year, the CEI hosted a workshop on “strengthening the political and civic participation of persons with disabilities in the electoral process.” The CEI was drafting revisions to the electoral code to facilitate the participation of persons living with disabilities in the electoral process during registration and voting.
Other Societal Violence or Discrimination
A human rights organization reported that the government relaunched the Human Rights, HIV, and Tuberculosis Technical Working Group, which aims to monitor alleged violations of the rights of individuals with HIV.
Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining
The government effectively enforced the law in the formal sector. The government did not provide figures on pending anti-union discrimination complaints.
Media reported on several strikes during the year, many of them large scale. This included a strike of court clerks in January, of postal workers in July, mobile-money outlet workers in July, as well as multiple student strikes in April and August. Workers and students frequently protested their working conditions and, in some cases, such as the postal worker strike in July, reported unpaid wages of several months and irregular wage payment over several years.
In August the Minister of Public Service signed a new, five-year (2022-2027) social truce with eight trade unions. In the agreement, the government provided assurances that it would improve the working conditions of civil servants and committed to spending an additional 227 billion CFA francs ($369 million) per year to implement the agreement.
Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits and criminalizes most forms of forced or compulsory labor. The law grants government officials the broad power to requisition labor for “national economic and social promotion,” in violation of international standards. Judges may propose that defendants convicted of certain crimes perform physical labor for the benefit of the state as an alternative to incarceration, but the defendant must accept the terms of such a sentence.