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- Publicly denounce student violence, particularly by student organizations, and call upon student leaders to ensure that their organizations and members abide by the law and school regulations.
- Publicly commit to supporting the investigation and prosecution of human rights abuses and criminal activity carried out by pro-government groups such as FESCI.
- Establish a joint task force with members drawn from the Ministries of Higher Education, Interior, and Justice to meet regularly to monitor the violence in and around schools and coordinate appropriate action in response to criminal activity and threats to academic freedom.
Investigate and prosecute FESCI members implicated in violent crimes including murder, assault, rape, and other mafia-like practices, such as extortion and protection rackets, in and around universities and high schools.
Issue clear public orders to the police and other security forces to ensure that FESCI and other student groups, regardless of their political affiliations, are brought within the scope of the law and cannot act with impunity.
Establish a dedicated police unit with special authority and responsibility to patrol and maintain law and order on university campuses and residences.
- In collaboration with civil society (including student organizations, teachers’ organizations, and human rights organizations), revise and expand the student code of conduct to emphasize, in particular, the importance of respect for human rights in the educational context, and to set forth clear disciplinary measures to be taken in the event of code-of-conduct violations.
- Engage in awareness-raising activities on campus to promote the revised student code of conduct.
- Take appropriate disciplinary action (including suspension from campus and/or referral for police investigation, where appropriate) against those implicated in campus violence and criminality.
- Work closely with university authorities to develop measures to end improper control over university facilities, including dormitories, by FESCI and other student organizations. Institute disciplinary action and seek, where appropriate, criminal prosecutions of students and groups engaged in such activities.
- Publicly dissociate from any student organization that repeatedly engages in unlawful activity.
- Commit to referring for police investigation alleged criminal activity carried out by student and other youth groups.
- In upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, help initiate a national dialogue on the subject of violence in schools and universities by presenting a platform for its mitigation.
- Take action to discourage and prevent crime by FESCI members, including by publicly denouncing past unlawful practices, instituting internal control mechanisms and education programs, and creating and enforcing organizational rules of conduct. Expel members involved in criminal activity.
- In collaboration with government ministries and members of civil society (including other student organizations, teachers’ organizations, and human rights organizations), participate in the drafting of a revised student code of conduct; publicly pledge to abide by its requirements; and cooperate with university officials in enforcing the code against FESCI members.
- Cooperate with police investigations into alleged crimes committed by members of FESCI, including recent attacks on human rights organizations.
- Publicly endorse and participate in the activities of University Rights and Freedoms Watch (Observatoire des droits et des libertés en milieu universitaire, ODELMU), a center for civic and non-violence education on the university campus run by the Ivorian League for Human Rights (LIDHO).
Continue to implement and expand a sensitization campaign in schools and universities regarding human rights and non-violent methods of social change.
Help to promote greater national dialogue on the problem of violence in schools and universities by raising the issue in local media and public forums, and with political parties.
To the United States, France, the European Union, and other International Donors
Call publicly and privately on the Ivorian government to investigate, and where applicable punish in accordance with international standards, those members of pro-government groups responsible for crimes, including murder, rape, assault, and extortion.
Provide support to government and civil society programs that promote campus reconciliation, non-violent methods of social change, and human rights sensitization.
May 2008
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