Share & more
Security forces in Cote d’Ivoire have been committing severe human rights violations, including rape and torture, against detainees, two Ivorian human rights organisations and Amnesty International have said in separate declarations and reports.
On Tuesday, Constance Yai, head of the Association ivoirienne pour la Defence des Droits de la Femme (AIDF), called on the minister of the interior, decentralisation and security, Emile Boga Doudou, to apologise on the state’s behalf to women who, she said, were raped while in detention. The women were among people detained following protests by the opposition Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) on 4-5 December. Yai also called for an investigation.
Her call came four days after another Ivorian rights group, the Mouvement ivoirien des Droits de l’Homme (MIDH), issued a report detailing atrocities committed during the early December protests.
And in a preliminary report released on Wednesday, an Amnesty International team that conducted an investigation in Cote d’Ivoire from 25 November to 7 December said there had been “an incessant cycle” of abuses over the past year.
[See separate item titled ‘COTE D’IVOIRE: IRIN Focus on human rights issues’]
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
