HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: 212-290-4700 Fax: 212-736-1300 ; 917-591-3452 Annex I: Human Rights Watch Letter to the Ivorian Government Africa Division Daniel Bekele, Executive Director Rona Peligal, Deputy Director Leslie Lefkow, Deputy Director Tiseke Kasambala, Advocacy Director Laetitia Bader, Researcher Valerie Brender, fellow Maria Burnett, Senior Researcher Corinne Dufka, Senior Researcher Eric Guttschuss, Researcher Charlene Harry, Associate Lane Hartill, Researcher Jehanne Henry, Senior Researcher Felix Horne, Researcher Dewa Mavhinga, Researcher Lianna Merner, Associate Lewis Mudge, Researcher Otsieno Namwaya, Researcher Lisa Rimli, Researcher Ida Sawyer, Researcher Carina Tertsakian, Senior Researcher Anneke Van Woudenberg, Senior Researcher Jamie Vernaelde, Associate Matthew Wells, Researcher Skye Wheeler, Researcher Washington, August 21, 2013 Mr. Daniel Kablan Duncan Prime Minister Boulevard Angoulvant, Plateau Abidjan Côte d’Ivoire Dear Prime Minister Duncan, Advisory Committee Jonathan Fanton, Chair Karen Ackman Daniel Bach Suliman Baldo Fareda Banda Innocent Chukwuma Wendy Keys Samuel Murumba Muna Ndulo Randy Newcomb Louis Marie Nindorera Peter Rosenblum John Ryle Ambassador Robin Sanders Nick Shaxson Darian Swig Arnold Tsunga L. Muthoni Wanyeki Michela Wrong Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth, Executive Director Michele Alexander, Deputy Executive Director, Development and Global Initiatives Carroll Bogert, Deputy Executive Director, External Relations Iain Levine, Deputy Executive Director, Program Chuck Lustig, Deputy Executive Director, Operations Walid Ayoub, Information Technology Director Emma Daly, Communications Director Barbara Guglielmo, Finance and Administration Director Peggy Hicks, Global Advocacy Director Babatunde Olugboji, Deputy Program Director Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel Tom Porteous, Deputy Program Director James Ross, Legal & Policy Director Joe Saunders, Deputy Program Director Frances Sinha, Human Resources Director James F. Hoge, Jr., Chair We write to receive the formal response of the Ivorian government in regards to key findings from our research on land conflict in western Côte d’Ivoire. We performed field research in around 50 villages in western Côte d’Ivoire in February and June 2013 and also interviewed Ivorian refugees during a December 2012 mission to Grand Gedeh, Liberia. We hope to include the Ivorian government’s responses in a report that will be published in early October. During the course of our research, we had the pleasure to share some of our preliminary findings with Agriculture Minister Mamadou Coulibaly; Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko; Justice Minister Gnénéma Coulibaly; and advisors in the presidency and the prime minister’s office. We also had the pleasure to speak with several sub-prefects and other local government officials in western Côte d’Ivoire. We continue to appreciate your government’s openness to meet on human rights issues and look forward to maintaining this constructive dialogue. Our research found widespread land dispossession in the regions of Cavally and Guémon linked to the post-election crisis. We documented over 100 cases in these regions in which “native” populations displaced by the conflict returned from either being refugees in Liberia or from being displaced within Côte d’Ivoire to find that some or all of their land was AMSTERDAM · BEIRUT · BERLIN · BRUSSELS · CHICAGO · GENEVA · JOHANNESBURG · LONDON · LOS ANGELES · MOSCOW · NAIROBI · NEW YORK · PARIS · SAN FRANCISCO - SYDNEY · TOKYO · TORONTO · WASHINGTON 97 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | OCTOBER 2013