Reports

This report outlines critical areas requiring additional government support so that Ivorian courts can provide credible justice. It is based on more than 70 interviews with government officials, members of the judiciary, representatives of nongovernmental groups, international criminal justice experts, UN officials, diplomats, and donor officials.

The 77-page report, “‘To Consolidate This Peace of Ours’: A Human Rights Agenda for Côte d’Ivoire,” assesses the government’s progress in strengthening the rule of law and identifies the key human rights priorities for the next five years. Ouattara’s government has made progress in addressing the consequences of the devastating 2010-2011 post-election crisis. But it should do more to fight impunity, strengthen the rule of law, complete security sector reforms, and find a lasting and rights-based solution to the land disputes that are frequently at the root of local-level violence.

This 88-page report draws on interviews with activists, journalists, and ICC staff in Abidjan and The Hague to assess whether the ICC has done what it can to ensure that its proceedings are relevant, meaningful, and accessible to Ivorians. Human Rights Watch found that the prosecution’s decision to limit its initial investigations to one side of the country’s 2010-2011 post-election crisis was a misstep, compounded when other court staff adopted the same narrow focus in their efforts to engage Ivorians in the court’s work. This lessened the court’s potential impact in the country. 

The 111-page report details the grave economic consequences of land dispossession and the resulting risk for inter-communal violence in western Côte d’Ivoire. The report calls on the Ivorian government to take swift and effective action to resolve fairly all claims of land dispossession and to help people register their property.

This 74-page report analyzes Côte d’Ivoire’s uneven efforts to hold to account those responsible for serious international crimes committed following the November 2010 presidential election. Since his May 2011 inauguration, President Alassane Ouattara has repeatedly declared his commitment to bring all of those responsible to account, regardless of political affiliation or military rank.

This 73-page report details the brutal crackdown that followed a series of violent attacks on military installations around the country in August. The attacks were allegedly committed by militants loyal to former President Laurent Gbagbo.

This 130-page report details the war crimes and likely crimes against humanity committed by forces under both Gbagbo and Ouattara. It documents the horrific human rights abuses that took place from November 2010, when Gbagbo lost an election and refused to yield power, through June 2011. Ouattara took power in April 2011.

Pro-government and rebel forces in Côte d’Ivoire have subjected thousands of women and girls to rape and other brutal sexual assaults with impunity. This 135-page report details the widespread nature of sexual violence throughout the five-year military-political crisis. The report, which is based on interviews with more than 180 victims and witnesses, documents how women and girls have been subjected to individual and gang rape, sexual slavery, forced incest and other egregious sexual assaults.

This report describes trends in human rights abuses in Côte d’Ivoire by state security and militia forces and by rebel forces, and examines the human rights and humanitarian consequences of the “no war no peace” stalemate.

The lives of “regional warriors” are documented in this 66-page report. Based on interviews with some 60 former fighters who have crossed borders to fight in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, the report explores the forces driving the phenomenon of cross-border mercenary activity in West Africa.