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Legal Responsibility of the Government

The government of Côte d’Ivoire has obligations under international human rights law to respect the right to life, right to bodily integrity, right to liberty and security of the person, and the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.²⁵⁷  These protections are found in a number of treaties ratified by Côte d’Ivoire, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Côte d’Ivoire is also party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which provides that “Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means.”²⁵⁸

In some instances, state security forces have acted in tandem with FESCI or other non-state groups to commit violations of human rights. At times, FESCI members have benefited from the complicity of police officers or other authorities, also implicating the government in human rights abuses.

But organizations like FESCI, even if supportive of the government, are not state actors and do not bear direct responsibility under international law for application and violation of international treaties. Rather, members of FESCI responsible for acts such as murder, rape, assault, and extortion should be held responsible by the state under Ivorian criminal law.

As detailed in this report, since at least 2002 the government of Côte d’Ivoire has demonstrated a sustained and partisan failure to investigate, prosecute, or punish criminal offenses allegedly perpetrated by FESCI members. This has especially been true when these crimes are directed against northerners, Muslims, and other perceived opponents of the ruling FPI party.

International law recognizes state accountability for failing to protect persons from rights abuses and violence by private actors. According to the UN Human Rights Committee, the international expert body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR, states are required “to respect and to ensure” the rights provided under the covenant. To meet this obligation, a state must not only protect individuals against violations of rights by its agents, but “also against acts committed by private persons or entities that would impair the enjoyment of Covenant rights.” A state may be violating human rights by its failure to protect the population, including by “permitting or failing to take appropriate measures or to exercise due diligence to prevent, punish, investigate or redress the harm caused by such acts by private persons or entities.”²⁵⁹

Ultimately, the sense shared by many Ivorians that pro-government groups like FESCI are effectively “above the law” due to their allegiance to the ruling party undermines respect for bedrock institutions essential to building the rule of law such as independent and impartial courts and rights-respecting police. It also contributes to a sense that the rights that the government of Côte d’Ivoire is bound to uphold under international law are not in fact rights guaranteed to all, but only to a select political class.

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