Box 5: Côte d’Ivoire During the colonial period, the French authorities had a policy of forcibly importing labour from the territory of Upper Volta (what is now Burkina Faso) to supply labour for plantations and infrastructure projects in Côte d’Ivoire; to facilitate this transfer, part of the territory of Upper Volta was incorporated into Côte d’Ivoire during the period when the colony of Upper Volta was dismembered from 1932 to 1947. Other migrant workers came of their own initiative both before and after independence: a 1960 agreement between Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso renewed the colonial era agreement on labour migration.141 Côte d’Ivoire is the West African country that has the largest number of non-nationals living within its borders. However, though there is some connection between high levels of migration and a high percentage of non-national residents, it is also the case that a nationality law based purely on descent makes it difficult for migrants to integrate. The 1998 population census revealed that of the approximately 15 million inhabitants just over a quarter were non-citizens; but almost half of these had been born in the country, and others had been resident for many years.142 The Ivorian nationality code adopted at independence included a transitional provision allowing those who had their permanent residence in Côte d’Ivoire before independence to be naturalised as citizens without further requirements if they applied within one year; in addition, the law allowed children under eighteen born in Côte d’Ivoire of foreign parents (before or after independence) to acquire Ivorian nationality “by declaration” if they had lived in Côte d’Ivoire for more than five years. 143 Nationality of origin was attributed automatically only on the basis of descent: to every child born in Côte d’Ivoire unless both of his or her parents were “foreigners” (étrangers).144 However, there was no definition of what “foreigner” meant: many of those who had migrated — or been forcibly recruited by the French — before independence assumed that, since they were legally established in the country, they were not foreigners. Thus, many potentially affected were unaware they might be required or have the right to opt for nationality by declaration: there were no demands for naturalisation on the basis of residence before independence within the one year time limit, and only two applications for acquisition by declaration between 1961 and 1972, when the right was removed.145 The long-lived regime of President Félix Houphouët Boigny continued to encourage immigration, creating relatively easy access to national identity documents, promoting access to land, and granting foreigners many rights of citizens, including employment in public services and the right to vote. In the mid-1990s, after the death of Houphouët Boigny, Ivorian political leaders adopted a series of measures to deny nationality documents to all those who were perceived to be of foreign origin, including the descendants of historical migrants, who had been integrated into Ivorian society, held Ivorian nationality documents and always considered themselves as Ivorians. Although the law in principle allows dual nationality of origin (see above, section 2.6.6), the nationality of those who potentially have access to another nationality was repeatedly called into question. The constitution adopted in 2000, following the 1999 coup led by Robert Guei, required a presidential candidate to be born to a father and a mother who are themselves both Ivorian by origin.146 Heated political rhetoric around the adoption of this constitution, and the matching provisions of the electoral code, extended that requirement by implication to all Ivorians, not just those who wished to be politicians. The discriminatory policies that followed and the stripping of the rights associated with nationality from many hundreds of thousands of people contributed to the civil war that broke out in 2002.147 At least half a million people were displaced by the war, and tens of thousands became refugees outside the country.148 In 2004, as part of the process of fulfilling the terms of the 2003 Linas-Marcoussis Agreement, the government of national reconciliation led by President Laurent Gbagbo proposed a draft law that would establish special temporary access to naturalisation for specific groups of people of foreign 47