Côte d’Ivoire: “Victims of the post electoral crisis should not be forgotten” – UN human rights expert --DisplayNews

DisplayNews

GENEVA/ABIDJAN (24 October 2013) – “Victims of the post electoral crisis should not be forgotten,” United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Côte d’Ivoire, Doudou Diène, said today, at the end of his latest visit to the country to follow up in the implementation of his previous recommendations* and those of other United Nations bodies.
“The return to the political race, two years before the presidential elections, should not hide the situation of the victims of the post electoral crisis,” Mr Diène stressed. “Their situation is at the core of the implementation of justice, reparation and the reconstruction of democracy in the country.”
“Progress made in the democratic and institutional reconstruction, the improvement of the security situation and the reconstruction of the Ivorian justice should be consolidated,” the Independent Expert said. “This progress should be reinforced by the promotion of an inclusive pluralism, a vigorous fight against impunity, the promotion of the equity in the judiciary and the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the population.”

Concerning the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Mr Diène expressed hopes that the mid-term report of this institution will facilitate the renewal of its mandate, and will enable it to achieve more dynamic steps in the fulfillment of its mission, in particular in the quest of truth and the conditions for reconciliation.
At this particular context where the Ivorian State claims its jurisdictional primacy to judge on its soil people prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Independent Expert noted that “the same guarantees of independence and impartiality required for the ICC regarding the ongoing proceedings, are the same requested to the Ivorian justice”.
The human rights expert met political parties including the Secretary General of the Rassemblement des Républicains (RDR), Amadou Soumahoro, the President of the Front Populaire Ivorien FPI, Pascal Affi Nguessan, who was conditionally released amongst other detainees.
“The conditional release of post electoral crisis detainees constitutes a good momentum to facilitate the re-launching of the political dialogue,” Mr. Diène noted. “This measure requests that the political actors in Côte d’Ivoire take their responsibility through their speech and their acts by reinforcing conditions of the dialogue in the interest of the Ivorian people.” The Independent Expert deplored that this dimension is not taken into account by the concerned actors.