“They looked at his identity card and shot him dead”
Six months of post-electoral violence in Côte d’Ivoire
57
key elements of any such body should be in its publication, Truth, justice and reparation:
Establishing an effective truth commission.54
At the international level, on 4 December 2010, Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) publicly stated that: "All acts of violence will be carefully
monitored and scrutinised by the office of the prosecutor to determine whether crimes within
the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court have been committed and should warrant
an investigation”. On 6 April 2011, Luis Moreno Ocampo, ICC prosecutor, indicated his
intention to open an investigation into crimes committed in Côte d’Ivoire , but Amnesty
International is concerned that this statement only mentions “the deteriorating situation in
Ivory Coast including recent information about alleged mass killings in the Western part of
the country."55 This statement might suggest that the ICC investigation would be limited to
the post-electoral human rights violations and abuses committed since December 2010,
thereby ignoring all the other crimes committed since 2002, including crimes of war and
crimes against humanity.
This initiative of the prosecutor of the ICC was supported by President Ouattara who, on 13
April 2011, officially requested an ICC investigation into the massacres that occurred in the
west of the country at the end of March 2011. Again, Amnesty International is concerned
that the ICC investigation might be limited to some massacres in the west of the country
while not dealing with the very serious human rights violations and abuses committed since
the September 2002 coup attempt.
On 25 March 2011 the UN Human Rights Council established an international Commission
of Inquiry to investigate “the facts and circumstances surrounding the allegations of serious
abuses and violations of human rights committed in Côte d’Ivoire following the presidential
election of 28 November 2010”.56 This Commission went to Côte d’Ivoire on 3 May 2011
and should carry out its activities there until 27 May. The report of the Commission of Inquiry
is scheduled to be presented to the 17th session of the Human Rights Council, probably
during the week of 6 June 2011. The UN Security Council has requested the UN SecretaryGeneral to transmit the report of the Commission of Inquiry to the Security Council and other
relevant international bodies.57
The UN High Commissioner for Human Right is also to report to the 17th session of the
Human Rights Council about the situation of human rights in Côte d’Ivoire.58
Index: AFR 31/002/2011
Amnesty International May 2011