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July 28, 2011
Cote d'Ivoire mission report launched today:
Continuing crisis of displacement and insecurity
A message from Alex Neve, Amnesty International, on return from a 2-week human rights research mission to Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa ...
Joseph Begre
“It’s too late for me. I hope it’s not too late for the country.”
- 81 year-old Joseph Atta Begré
“It’s too late for me. I hope it’s not too late for the country.”
With those weary words, 81 year old Joseph Atta Begré summed up his fears and his hopes about the future, for himself and for Côte d’Ivoire.
Our Amnesty International delegation had travelled to his remote village of Gobroko in mid-June, to gather information about widespread human rights violations that had taken place there and in 4 neighbouring villages about 5 weeks earlier. Joseph’s house, which he built close to forty years ago, had been attacked, ransacked and torched during several days of chaotic fighting.
His nephew had been killed. He himself now had nowhere to go. Given his age and frail health, he felt that rebuilding his home and his life was an impossibility. But he certainly wasn’t ready to give up on his country. His conviction that Côte d’Ivoire could and would rebuild, after years of division and violence, was strong.
And that, in many respects, was the theme of our mission. Was the country turning a corner?
I was last in Côte d’Ivoire in early 2003, a few months after an attempted military coup and civil war led to de facto partition of the country between north and south. Those divisions were supposed to heal with a long delayed presidential election late last year. But the contested outcome of that election, when incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo refused to acknowledge that his challenger, Alassane Ouattara, had won -- only deepened the hatred and suspicion that has been at the heart of a decade of violence and human rights violations in the country.
The ensuing human rights crisis devastated an already fragile country. From the time of the election in late November through to the eventual arrest of Laurent Gbagbo in early April, more than one million people were forced to flee from their homes, at least 3,000 people were killed, and rape, torture and other human rights abuses became so commonplace as to be impossible to measure. Amnesty International teams had been to the country twice earlier this year and documented the extent and the gravity of what quickly became a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe.
As we travelled throughout the country in June, our focus was to see if the crisis was coming to an end. Laurent Gbagbo had been arrested on 11 April and was in custody. (We have expressed concern, however, about the fact that he is being held without charge.) Alassane Ouattara was sworn in as the new president on 21 May. Was the country finally ready to leave its long human rights tragedy behind?
There have been some promising developments. President Ouattara has launched a number of commissions and investigations to look into the terrible human rights violations that have occurred in recent months. He has also agreed to have the International Criminal Court carry out its own investigations.
But on the ground, especially in far flung villages in the south and west of the country, what we saw, heard and documented was an ongoing human rights crisis. At least 500,000 people are still too terrified to return to their homes. Human rights violations are being committed daily by the new government’s security forces, the Republic Forces of Côte d’Ivoire, and by the Dozos, a long-established confederacy of hunters that has begun to act as a private pro-government militia. Insecurity reigns.
Not that we did not see hope – everywhere – to bolster Joseph’s conviction; we did.
• The resilience of Clémentine, a remarkable grassroots human rights defender in the west of the country, who travels from village to village gathering information about abuses and offering help to survivors, despite having been attacked and raped herself only a few months ago.
• The doggedness of Raphael, a village chief from the area where Joseph lived, who greeted our arrival by pulling out notebooks full of names, numbers and facts he had gathered about killings and displacement in the five villages, which he had been compiling with confidence that Amnesty International would be sure to show up.
• The smiles and bolstered spirits of people interviewed in earlier Amnesty International missions with whom we were able to share copies of reports and video clips capturing their concerns, through their own words.
• The release of 17 of a group of 38 individuals held for weeks without charge and without access to their families, just over 48 hours after we had spent a day interviewing them in detention.
• The inspiring courage of priests, nuns and pastors who have turned the grounds of their churches and religious missions into places of refuge for displaced people, even though that has exposed them as well to threats and violence.
We have gathered many stories – of loss and of survival, of despair and determination. And as always, it cannot and will not end there. Now is the time for action.
With our report, "We want to go home, but we can’t", we have put numerous recommendations in front of the new government in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the international community (particularly the UN peacekeeping mission that has been in the country for close to 7 years).
"We want to go home, but can't"
Ivoire report
Read Report
<< We are calling for action to reign in the security forces and the Dozos.
<< We are pressing urgently for a comprehensive action plan to address insecurity and ensure that the displaced can go home.
<< We are urging the UN to ensure that its patrols consistently reach isolated areas of the country.
<< We are highlighting the importance of addressing the continuing high levels of sexual violence that women and girls face.
And we are stressing that after far too many years of impunity, there must be real justice and accountability for human rights violations in Côte d’Ivoire.
There is a way out of a decade of animosity and violence. Joseph’s hope for Côte d’Ivoire is most certainly not misplaced. It lies in human rights. And we will work alongside Clémentine, Raphael and others to make sure that hope becomes reality.
Sincerely
Alex pic
signature
Alex Neve
Secretary General
Amnesty International Canada
P.S.: Thank you for helping to make this trip possible, for making our crisis-response work a priority so that we can bring hope and security back to people who have been devasted by war. With the mission finished the hard work of campaigning begins.
___________________________________________
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Côte d'Ivoire security forces and a state-backed militia are creating a Ivoire imageclimate of fear that is preventing hundreds of thousands of people displaced by post-election violence from returning to their homes.
<< See press release
<< Download report
Watch video
video cote d'Ivoire
Images from Côte d'Ivoire
collecting testimonies in Cote d'Ivoire
Amnesty International's Alex Neve collecting personal testimonies at Guiglo
Widow
Widow of Elisee Aneammin Monteme
75 year old injured
75 year old injured when her house was burned in Adebem
scarred arm
Scarred arm of man tortured and burned by FRCI in Duekoue
sharing research
Sharing Amnesty research at villages around Duekoue
Interior minister
Meeting with the Interior Minister
Liberian refugees
Liberian refugee camp
lists of people killed
Lists of people killed in villages of Godjiboué and Adébem
Read field reports
Read and listen to Alex Neve's reports from the field during the June 4-17 mission to Côte d'Ivoire
June 6 | June 13 | June 15
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