Country Watch
Ivory Coast Establishes the Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Post-Election Violence
On July 20, 2011, the President of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, signed a decree authorizing the establishment of a commission of inquiry to inves- tigate crimes and human rights violations commit- ted in post-election violence beginning November 2010 and occurring to the present-day. President Ouattara faces mounting pressure from human rights organizations and the United Nations to iden- tify and prosecute those who perpetrated human rights abuses during the post-electoral crisis.
Presidential elections were held in the Ivory Coast in November 2010, the first elections held since 2000. On December 2, 2010, the Electoral Com- mission announced that Ouattara defeated the in- cumbent President Laurent Gbagbo, winning 54% of the vote. Gbagbo refused to leave office, causing the security and human rights situation in the coun- try to deteriorate rapidly. He challenged the elec- tion results and called on the Constitutional Council to annul results from three northern districts on the basis that Ouattara’s campaign engaged in elector- al fraud. Gbagbo forces set up roadblocks in the capital city of Abidjan, implemented curfews, and closed borders. During the first overnight curfew, masked gunmen attacked Ouattara headquarters and the neighborhoods of Ouattara supporters.
On December 3, 2010, the Ivory Coast’s Constitu- tional Council announced that President Gbagbo had been re-elected. The Council annulled almost 10% of the ballots cast, which gave Gbagbo more than 51% of the overall votes and reversed the Electoral Commission’s determination. On Decem- ber 4, neither Gbagbo nor Ouattara accepted de- feat and both took competing presidential oaths.
A number of world leaders and organizations sup- ported Ouattara’s claim to the presidency, but vio- lence had already erupted throughout the country, as neither candidate was accepted as the legiti- mate leader by a majority of the population. Gbag- bo loyalists and Ouattara supporters clashed in
cities and the countryside, attacking communities because of their supposed political beliefs or eth- nicity. Atrocities were committed on both sides, in- cluding arbitrary arrests, executions, torture, rape, and other human rights violations.
The United Nations had the duty of certifying the Ivory Coast’s 2010 presidential election, in accor- dance with a peace treaty Gbagbo signed in 2007. The United Nations had already certified the origi- nal election results, thereby declaring Ouattara president. The United States, African Union, Euro- pean Union, and France demanded Gbagbo to step down and recognize Ouattara as president. Gbagbo declared that this international intervention threat- ened the Ivory Coast’s sovereignty. When Gbagbo did not relinquish power, crippling economic sanc- tions were imposed.
In early 2011, France, the Ivory Coast’s former co- lonial power, forcefully intervened. France and the United Nations sent ground troops to the Ivory Coast and administered airstrikes to oust Gbagbo. In April, combined French, UN, and pro-Ouattara forces captured Gbagbo in a bunker in the capital Abidjan. After Gbagbo’s arrest, Ouattara took his rightful position as President of the Ivory Coast.
Over three thousand people were killed and over one million were displaced during the post-elec- toral crisis. Many people still live in fear of further violence. However, action is being taken to reunite the country.
At the request of Nigeria, the UN Human Rights Council created a Commission of Inquiry with the mandate “to investigate the facts and circum- stances surrounding the allegations of serious abuses and violations of human rights committed,” since the election, and to “identify those respon- sible for such acts and bring them to justice.” The three-member Commission led by Vitit Muntarb- horn, a Thai law professor, reported back to the Human Rights Council in June 2011. The Commis- sion found that many violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law had been
ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 1 » October 2011
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