Investigation Launched into Human Rights Violation in Ivory Coast
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In conjunction with former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo’s arrest on Monday, the United Nations has launched an investigation into hundreds of reported human rights violations within the country under rule of the old regime.
According to M&C, The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for the new government of President Alassane Ouattara to investigate the killings of hundreds of people and human rights abuses committed by all sides in the recent conflict.
The council president, Colombia’s UN Ambassador Nestor Osorio, said following a session reviewing the situation in Ivory Coast that the parties must refrain from ‘reprisals, revenge and provocation’ and aim at national reconciliation.
Osorio said the council welcomed Ouattara’s commitment to investigate alleged human rights abuses on both sides of the conflict and ‘reaffirmed that those responsible for such abuses, regardless of their affiliations, must be held accountable.’
Osorio said former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was arrested by Ouattara’s forces on Monday, was transferred on Wednesday to a location in the north of the country to ensure his ‘integrity.’
The UN mission in Ivory Coast is tasked with protecting civilians and the country’s leaders in addition to assisting the maintenance of peace and security and democratic reform.
Ouattara’s forces defeated and arrested Laurent Gbagbo and his wife on Monday, ending months of violence triggered by Gbagbo’s refusal to cede power to Ouattara, who won the presidential elections in November.
Ouattara’s new envoy to the UN, Youssoufou Bamba, told the Security Council that the new government has put human rights at the centre of his rule. Ouattara has called for the formation of a truth and reconciliation commission to end the division in his country, which is known for exporting high quality cocoa.
‘Allegations of grave human rights violations have been made in western Ivory Coast, which implicate the FRCI (Ouattara’s forces),’ Bamba said. The western part was Ouattara’s stronghold before he won the elections.
He said Ouattara has ordered an investigation of all allegations of human rights violations and vowed that ‘the perpetrators will be brought before justice.’
The UN said an estimated 400 people had been killed in the capital Abidjan, 255 in Duekoue, more than 100 in Guiglo and possibly 100 in Bangolo.
Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the council that her Geneva office had found ‘evidence of large-scale human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and sexual violence in Abidjan.’
Ouattara has called for national reconciliation. But Pillay said the policy would not be accomplished without meaningful accountability, ‘which has been lacking in Ivory Coast for the last decade.’