Civil and political rights are still often abused in Côte d’Ivoire in the aftermath of the 2010-2011 post-electoral crisis, especially when it comes to civil liberties, the conditions of detention, and child rights.  People are left in preventative detention for months without having any recourse to a lawyer, for example; and only 65% of all births are officially registered, leaving thousands of children unable to access their basic rights.

In mid-March, Côte d’Ivoire went through its review by the Human Rights Committee, the body of independent experts that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its State parties. In preparation for this review, FI joined a group of Ivorian civil society organisations to produce a report evaluating Côte d’Ivoire’s situation around civil and political rights. 

The group then planned a public event in Abidjan to explain how the review functions, to show what Côte d’Ivoire had been doing so far to implement the International Covenant, and to present the shortcomings it found in its report, namely around conditions of detention and birth registration. Among those present, in addition to civil society actors, were representatives of the Human Rights Division of the UN Operations in Côte d’Ivoire, and representatives of the Ivorian State and Ministry of Justice. 

Five NGOs were able to travel to Geneva for Côte d’Ivoire’s review, taking the opportunity to meet both formally and informally with the members of the Human Rights Committee, discussing some of the Committee’s questions and concerns about the situation in the country.  FI delivered an oral statement regarding birth registration and conditions of detention for minors, and the group also met with the Ivorian Minister for Human Rights, who was representing Côte d’Ivoire at the review, who assured them of his availability and willingness to help them in their work. 

The Committee’s formal recommendations included specific reference to the issues brought up by FI and Ivorian NGOs: two recommendations about birth registration, namely to reinforce birth registration campaigning and to modernise its birth registration system to allow the systematic registration of every birth; and one recommendation around detention conditions for minors, recommending they be firmly separated from adults to avoid further violations like rape, exploitation, and violence. 

Local NGOs in Abidjan lauded the whole process around Côte d’Ivoire’s review under the Human Rights Committee, and expressed wishes to go through similar activities for every UN-review the country goes through.  

A week later, at the March Human Rights Council session, during the official interactive dialogue with the newly appointed Independent Expert on Côte d’Ivoire, FI was able to leverage its successful experience with the Human Rights Committee and delivered its information about birth registration, reiterating its recommendations to reinforce campaigning and modernise systems around birth registration.