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II. RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government of Côte d'Ivoire:

    · Publicly acknowledge and condemn the unlawful killings and other abuses committed against peaceful demonstrators, members of the opposition, northerners, foreigners, and others distinguished by their religion or ethnicity.
    · Implement the U.N. investigative team's recommendations and submit to the competent prosecutorial authorities information submitted by the U.N. mission.
    · Establish an independent judicial inquiry into: (l) the violence surrounding the October presidential and December parliamentary elections and (2) violence against northerners and foreigners, with a mandate to make recommendations for prosecutions and for steps to take to prevent a recurrence of similar violence.
    · Suspend from active duty, investigate, and where appropriate prosecute any member of the security forces against whom there are allegations of torture and ill treatment, including sexual abuse, unlawful detention and "disappearance," and unlawful killings.
    · Desist from using the youth wing of the FPI and student groups for security functions reserved for the police and paramilitary gendarmes, and investigate and prosecute where appropriate members of any such group against whom there are allegations of breaking the law or human rights abuses.
    · Promptly make public the results of two judicial investigations promised following the

      October violence into the killing in Blokosso neighborhood and concerning the eighteen bodies removed from the Ébrié Lagoon.

    · Immediately charge with a recognizable criminal offense or release all detainees; those charged should be tried promptly and in accordance with international standards of due process.
    · Invite the U.N special rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions and enforced disappearance to visit Côte d'Ivoire and prepare reports on the situation in that country for submission to the 58th session of the Commission on Human Rights.

To the United States, France, the European Union, and International Financial Institutions:

    · Call publicly and privately on the Ivorian government to investigate and prosecute where appropriate all allegations of human rights abuse in connection with the October and December 2000 elections.
    · Condition balance of payments support to Côte d'Ivoire on credible efforts to investigate and prosecute serious human rights abuses and on improved respect for human rights, the rule of law, and democratic principles.
    · Refuse all military or police assistance to the Ivorian government until accountability for reported abuses by the security forces has been established
    · In designing development assistance, make programs for the strengthening of the Ivorian judiciary and other institutions essential to the rule of law a priority.
    · Put diplomatic pressure on the government of Côte d'Ivoire to fully comply with the recommendations of the U.N. commission of inquiry.
    · Support Ivorian civil society organizations in their efforts to promote and protect human rights and support freedom of the press in Côte d'Ivoire.

To the United Nations:

    · Offer the assistance of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to implement the recommendations made by the commission of inquiry.
    · Ensure all existing U.N. programs in Côte d'Ivoire contain a strong human rights element and provide for ongoing monitoring of the current ethnic and religious tension.
    · Submit regular and public reports on the ongoing human rights climate in Côte d'Ivoire to the Security Council through the office of the United Nations Resident Representative in Côte d'Ivoire.

To the Economic Community of West African States and the Organization of African Unity:

    · Press for accountability for the human rights violations that have taken place in Côte d'Ivoire since October 2000.
    · Increase the level of attention given to the volatile human rights situation, and violence against foreigners and others distinguished by their religion or ethnicity in Côte d'Ivoire.
    · Make the human rights situation an agenda item at the yearly meeting of the OAU and during regular meetings with ECOWAS.
    · Request the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to follow its recent promotional visit to Côte d'Ivoire with a fact-finding mission into the election violence and ongoing human rights abuses and to make a written report of such an investigation available to the public, and provide funds for such an investigation.

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