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TITLE:  COTE D'IVOIRE HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                         COTE D'IVOIRE


From independence until 1990, President Felix Houphouet-Boigny
and his Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI), the only
legal political party, ruled Cote d'Ivoire.  The PDCI continued
its political dominance in the first multiparty presidential
and legislative elections in 1990, winning 165 of the 175
National Assembly seats in elections that were marred by
irregularities (see Section 3).

In 1993 Houphouet died and was replaced by his constitutional
successor, National Assembly President Henri Konan Bedie.  The
Constitution calls for Bedie to serve out the rest of
Houphouet's term, which ends in October 1995.

Cote d'Ivoire's security forces include the National Police
(Surete) and the Gendarmerie, a branch of the armed forces with
responsibility for general law enforcement.  The armed forces
traditionally have accepted the primacy of civilian authority.
Security forces, including Special Anti-crime Police Brigade
(SAVAC), were responsible for a number of human rights abuses
in 1994.

The Ivorian economy, largely market based but heavily dependent
on the agricultural sector, has performed poorly in recent
years, owing to low prices for its principal exports:  cocoa,
coffee, and tropical woods.  High population growth coupled
with economic decline resulted in a steady fall of living
standards; Gross National Product per capita in 1994 was about
$515.  The devaluation of the currency, the CFA franc,
benefited exports while penalizing consumers.  A majority of
the population is dependent on smallholder cash crop production.

Despite a peaceful, constitutional, presidential succession in
December 1993, serious human rights abuses continued in 1994.
Members of the security forces carried out many extrajudicial
killings of criminal suspects and beat and abused detainees.
The Government failed to bring to justice perpetrators of these
abuses.  Prison conditions are poor and in some instances
brutal.  Police arrested and detained student leaders without
trial following student strikes in May and imprisoned several
journalists for criticizing the Government and Chief of State.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no known politically motivated killings by
government forces or reported deaths in official custody from
unnatural causes.  However, as violent crime increased, the
security forces frequently resorted to lethal force.  Credible
reports indicate that SAVAC, in hot pursuit of armed criminals,
killed three apparently innocent young men without warning
during a raid in June.  Best estimates put the number of
persons killed by SAVAC and the regular police at 47.  The
Government prosecuted no SAVAC or police personnel for these
killings.

Occasionally the Government has punished malefactors in the
security forces.  In July a police officer who had injured a
woman and two children in 1992 was tried, sentenced to 5-years'
imprisonment; later that month, another officer was sentenced
to 10 years for killing a suspect he was pursuing.  However,
these are exceptions to the rule; many offenders are not tried.

     b.  Disappearance

There were no reports of officially sanctioned abduction or
disappearance.

     c.  Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

Police sometimes beat detainees or prisoners in order to punish
them or to extract confessions.  There were no reports of
government officials being tried for these abuses.

A jurists' union official reported interviewing prisoners who
were beaten to obtain their confessions and who were afraid to
press charges against the police officers involved.  Television
footage and press photographs regularly show criminal detainees
with swollen or bruised faces and bodies, a likely indicator of
police mistreatment during arrest or detention.

The acting secretary general of the students' union FESCI
stated that during his 2-week detention in May police
physically abused him, employing beatings and sleep
deprivation.  A journalist imprisoned by the Republican Guard
stated that they beat him during his detention.  Police
routinely treat non-Ivorian Africans residing in Cote d'Ivoire
(who represent a third of the total population) more roughly
than Ivorians.

During incarceration, neither the FESCI leader nor the other 24
students detained with him were allowed visitors.  Although the
law prohibits it, police restrict access to some prisoners.

Harsh prison conditions include overcrowding, malnutrition,
infectious disease, and infestation by vermin, and are
responsible for a high prison death rate.  Several journalists
released during the year reported that certain white-collar
prisoners are accorded special treatment.  Officials denied the
Ivorian Human Rights League (LIDHO) and other human rights
groups access to the prison in 1994.

According to a LIDHO report, conditions at the main prison of
Abidjan are especially brutal for women, with violent and
nonviolent criminals, as well as minors, housed together.
There are no health facilities for women, and a number of women
have reportedly given birth at the prison without medical
attention.  There are reports of women being raped by fellow
prisoners and guards.

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Under the Code of Penal Procedure, a public prosecutor may
order the detention of a suspect for up to 48 hours without
bringing charges.  A magistrate may order detention up to 4
months but must also provide the Minister of Justice a written
justification for continued detention on a monthly basis.
However, the law is often violated.  Police have held persons
for more than 48 hours without bringing charges.  According to
a representative of a jurists' union, this practice is common,
and often magistrates are not able to verify that those not
charged are released.  Defendants are not guaranteed the right
to a judicial determination of the legality of their
detention.  A judge may release pretrial detainees on bail if
the judge believes that the suspect will not flee.  However,
according to LIDHO, many prisoners are detained for long
periods, sometimes years, awaiting trial.  While exact
statistics are lacking, pretrial detainees probably make up 10
percent of the prison population.

Detainees, particularly those arrested for opposition to the
Government, are not always brought to trial.  Following
disturbances in Bouake in March, police arrested six students.
Only one was tried and sentenced; the others were held in
preventive detention, then released in June.  In May, according
to LIDHO, the authorities arrested 192 students following a
confrontation between police and the students' union, FESCI.
Police released the students within 48 hours without charging
them.  Subsequently, security forces detained 25 members of the
executive bureau of FESCI without charge for 2 weeks at the
Gendarme training school, holding them incommunicado.  It
released student leaders after the acting secretary general of
FESCI apologized to the Government.  He later stated publicly
that officials had coerced him to apologize.  During the year,
police arrested other students including two following a march
in early November.  In September the police detained a
journalist for 5 days without charge.  There are no accurate
statistics on the total number of arbitrary arrests.

Exile is not used as a means of political control.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The modern judicial system is headed by a Supreme Court and
includes the Court of Appeals and lower courts.  The judiciary
is theoretically independent of the executive branch in
ordinary criminal cases.  In practice, the judiciary follows
the lead of the executive in national security or political
cases.

There is not a clear separation between the judicial and
executive branches of government.  There are credible reports
that those with ties to the opposition are treated more harshly
by the judicial system than those with ties to the Government.
Judges serve at the pleasure of the executive and are therefore
likely to bend to political pressure.  One jurist claims that
he was transferred out of Abidjan because of his public appeals
for a more independent judiciary.

Ivorian law establishes the right to a public trial, although
key evidence is sometimes given in camera, the presumption of
innocence, and the right of defendants to be present at their
trials.  Those convicted also have the right of appeal,
although courts rarely overturn verdicts.  Indeed, in the case
of a Bouake student who appealed a 1-year sentence in May, the
Appeals Court increased it to 2 years.  Defendants accused of
felonies or capital crimes have the right to legal counsel, and
the judicial system provides for court-appointed attorneys for
indigent defendants.  In practice, many defendants cannot
afford private counsel and court-appointed attorneys are not
readily available.

In rural areas, traditional institutions often administer
justice at the village level, handling domestic disputes, minor
land questions, and family law.  Dispute resolution is by
extended debate, with no known instances of resort to physical
punishment.  The formal court system is increasingly
superseding these traditional courts.

Military courts do not try civilians.  Although there are no
appellate courts within the military court system, persons
convicted by a military tribunal may petition the Supreme Court
to set aside the tribunal's verdict and order a retrial.  There
were no known political detainees or prisoners in 1994.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Code of Penal Procedure specifies that a police official or
investigative magistrate may conduct searches of homes without
a judicial warrant if there is reason to believe that there is
evidence on the premises concerning a crime.  The official must
have the prosecutor's agreement to retain any objects seized in
the search and is required to have witnesses to the search,
which may not take place between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m.  In
practice, police sometimes use a general search warrant without
a name or address.  On occasion, police have entered homes of
non-Ivorian Africans (or rounded them up on the streets), taken
them to local police stations, and extorted small amounts of
money for alleged minor offenses.

Security forces have reportedly monitored some private
telephone conversations, but the extent of the practice is
unknown.  There is no evidence that private written
correspondence is monitored.

In Cote d'Ivoire's multiparty political system, citizens are
free to join, or not join, any political party.  However, the
State has reportedly transferred government employees (e.g.,
teachers) active in the opposition because of their political
activities.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

Although the Constitution provides for freedom of expression,
and nongovernment newspapers frequently criticized government
policies, the Government imposes significant restrictions.  The
two government-owned daily newspapers offer little criticism of
government policy, while government-owned radio and television
offer none at all.  Moreover, while the opposition press,
opposition political party leaders, and student groups voice
their disapproval of government or presidential actions
frequently and sometimes loudly, the Government does not
tolerate what it considers insults or attacks on the honor of
the country's highest officials.  It is a crime, punishable by
from 3 months to 2 years in prison, to offend the President,
the Prime Minister, foreign chiefs of state or government, or
their diplomatic representatives, or to defame institutions of
the State.  Moreover, a 1991 press law created a new commission
to enforce laws against publishing material "undermining the
reputation of the nation or defaming institutions of the State."

The Bedie administration used the press law to silence direct
criticism of the President and of other government officials.
In February a court sentenced a newspaper publisher to 1 year
in prison for publishing an article which unflatteringly
compared President Bedie to his predecessor; Bedie pardoned the
publisher in July.

In March courts sentenced five opposition journalists to 1 year
in prison and imposed a fine for printing an article based on a
report in a foreign publication which suggested that President
Bedie had asked the French Government to finance his
predecessor's funeral.  Although the authorities never actually
confined the journalists, the sentence remains.  In May courts
sentenced David Gogbe, editor of a weekly newspaper, to 1 year
in prison for defamation when he suggested that a high-ranking
government official was implicated in a murder.  The Government
pardoned Gogbe in December.

The Government has also used the press law to counter
opposition journalists and to stifle investigations into
"sensitive" national security issues.  The authorities arrested
the publisher and a journalist from La Voie, a daily newspaper
associated with the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI), in April for
publishing an article calling for civil disobedience using
legal means.  The two received sentences of 3 years in prison
for disturbing the public order and inciting revolt.  The
publisher, who is also the second ranking official of the FPI,
lost his final appeal to the Ivorian Supreme Court in
November.  The two were released from prison on December 16 as
part of a general Christmas amnesty.  In September a journalist
from Soir-Info, writing an investigative article on the
Republican Guard, was incarcerated for 8 days before police
released him.  The journalist was not charged until 4 days
after his arrest; the charges were later dropped.

In December police in Agnibilikrou arrested journalist
Frederick Konate Ousmane while he was researching an article on
the family origins of President Bedie.  Police took Ousmane to
the Abidjan headquarters, interrogated him, and released him
the following day on orders from Security Minister Kone.

The Government owns both television networks and a major radio
station.  There are also four nongovernment radio stations and
a private television subscription service, Canal Horizon.
While the independent stations have complete control over their
editorial content, the Government continues to exercise
considerable influence over official media program content,
news coverage, and other matters, using these media to promote
its policies.  Much of the news programming is devoted to
coverage of the activities of the President, the Government,
and the PDCI.

Many prominent Ivorian scholars are active in opposition
politics and have not suffered professionally, although some
teachers and professors suggest that they have been transferred
because of their political activities.  The student union
reports that the police have used informers at the University
of Abidjan to provide data on dissident political activity.  In
April and May FESCI members accused the police of using student
informers to indicate prominent members of FESCI to the police.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly, but in
practice that freedom is restricted when the Government
perceives a danger to public order.  Opposition parties assert
that the Constitution permits private associations to form
without registration.  The Government rejects this
interpretation and requires all organizations to register
before commencing activities.  There were no reports in the
past 3 years of denial of registration.  Ivorian law prohibits
the formation of political parties along ethnic or religious
lines.  In 1991 the Government banned FESCI for failure to
register properly.  The ban was never rescinded, although FESCI
was allowed to operate openly until May.  At that time, the
Government again insisted that the organization was banned,
arresting several members of its executive bureau (see Section
1.d.).

Permits are required for public meetings and are sometimes
denied to the opposition, but never to the ruling PDCI.  Police
occasionally prohibit gatherings to prevent the expression of
controversial views.  In February 1992, the Government banned
all outdoor public meetings "until further notice"; that ban
has not been rescinded, though it is no longer strictly
enforced.  An "antivandal" law passed by the National Assembly
in 1992 holds organizers of a march or demonstration
responsible if any of the participants engage in violence.
LIDHO and all major opposition parties condemned the law as
unduly vague and as one which imposed collective punishment for
the crimes of a few.  Following the arrest of two opposition
journalists, leaders of the Ivorian Popular Front canceled an
announced protest march in April, saying they feared arrest
under the antivandal law.

     c.  Freedom of Religion

There are no known impediments to religious expression.  There
is no dominant religion, and no faith is officially favored.
The Government permits the open practice of religion, and there
are no restrictions on religious ceremonies or teaching.

Nevertheless, certain segments of the Muslim community feel
targeted for discrimination (see also Section 5).  An incident
in which police arrested 11 persons in a clash at an Abidjan
mosque in June especially outraged Muslims.  The National
Islamic Council reported that the police were performing
identification checks during prayer time on Friday and that
they used undue force.  A Commission of Inquiry, which included
representatives of the National Islamic Council, found in
August that police had ceased identification checks and used
only necessary force in self-defense.  Many Muslims also resent
what they see as undue interference by the Government in
Islamic affairs.

     d.  Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
         Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

While the Government does not generally restrict internal
travel, uniformed police regularly extort small amounts of
money or goods for contrived or minor infractions by motorists
or passengers on public conveyances.  The Government has made
no visible effort to stop this misuse of authority.

Ivorians normally may travel abroad and emigrate freely, and
have the right of voluntary repatriation.  There are no known
cases of revocation of citizenship.  However, the Government
sometimes restricts foreign travel for political reasons.  In
1993 the Government twice refused the president of LIDHO
permission to travel to conferences abroad.  However, it did
not prevent him from traveling to Rwanda and Geneva in 1994 as
the United Nations Special Rapporteur.

Cote d'Ivoire's refugee and asylum practices are liberal.  The
Government respects the right to first asylum and does not deny
recognition to refugees, either by law or custom.  Cote
d'Ivoire currently hosts some 350,000 refugees from the
Liberian civil war.  No cases of involuntary repatriation were
reported in 1994.

Section 3  Respect for Political Rights:  The Right of Citizens
           to Change Their Government

Whether citizens have the ability to exercise this
constitutional right in practice is not yet known.  Multiparty
elections were first permitted in 1990.  While opposition
parties ultimately acquiesced in the results, which gave 165
of the 175 National Assembly seats to the PDCI, the elections
were flawed.  Before the presidential elections, the National
Assembly effectively restricted the number of candidates by
imposing the stringent requirement that each candidate must pay
a large deposit (approximately $80,000), refundable only if the
candidate received more than 10 percent of the vote in the
first round of balloting.  Opposition parties, which became
legal only in May 1990, charged that they had inadequate time
to prepare for elections held from October through December of
the same year.  Further, they faced onerous restrictions on
holding meetings and demonstrations and unequal access to the
state-controlled media.  There were numerous complaints by
opposition parties of ballot-box stuffing, procedural
irregularities, and polling places that were fictitious or
belatedly designated.  In the legislative elections, the names
of well over 100 duly registered candidates did not appear on
the ballot.

Elections are held every 5 years, with the next round scheduled
for 1995; the balloting is secret.

The President is both Head of State and President of the PDCI.
An appointed Prime Minister, who serves at the pleasure of the
President, controls day-to-day governmental affairs and
economic policy.  With 3 seats vacant, the PDCI holds 162 of
the 175 seats in the National Assembly, which in practice is
subordinate to the executive branch.  Two opposition parties,
the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the Ivorian Workers' Party
(PIT), originally won seats in the National Assembly.  A third
opposition party, the Rally of Republicans (RDR), broke away in
1994 from the ruling PDCI, taking an additional nine deputies
away from the PDCI.  While active and vocal, the opposition is
not yet well enough represented to act as an effective
counterweight to the powerful Presidency and the domination of
PDCI.

There are no restrictions in law or practice on the
participation of women in politics, and they play an active
role in Ivorian society and government.  Two cabinet ministers
are women, but women play a limited role in the National
Assembly, holding only 8 of the 175 seats.  Women hold 5 of the
36 leadership positions in the Assembly.  Two members of the
Supreme Court are women.

There are no impediments to the exercise of political rights by
any one of the over 60 ethnic groups.

Section 4  Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
           Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
           of Human Rights

LIDHO, formed in 1987 and recognized by the Government in July
1990, has actively investigated alleged violations of human
rights and issued press releases and reports, some critical of
the Government.

The Government has been cooperative towards international
inquiries into its human rights practices.

Section 5  Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
           Disability, Language, or Social Status

Discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex,
or religion is against the law, but in practice women occupy a
clearly subordinate role in society.

     Women

In rural areas, ethnic customs dictate that women perform most
menial tasks, although farm work by men is also common.
Government policy encourages full participation by women in
social and economic life, but there is considerable informal
resistance among employers in hiring women, whom they consider
less dependable by virtue of potential pregnancy.  Women are
underrepresented in some professions and in the managerial
sector as a whole.  Women in the formal sector, however, are
paid on an equal scale with men.

Representatives of women's organizations state that wife
beating--while not widespread--does occur and often leads to
divorce.  Doctors state that they rarely see the victims of
such violence.  A severe social stigma is attached to such
violence; neighbors often intervene in a domestic quarrel to
protect a woman who is the object of physical abuse.  The
courts and police view such domestic violence as a family
problem, unless serious bodily harm is inflicted or the victim
lodges a complaint, in which case they may initiate criminal
proceedings.  The Ivorian Association for the Protection of
Women has been concerned by the indifference of authorities to
female victims of violence and by reports that women who are
the subject of rape or domestic violence are often ignored or
mistreated when they attempt to bring the violence to the
attention of the police.  The Government has no clear-cut
policy regarding spouse abuse beyond the obvious strictures
against violence in the Civil Code.

     Children

The Ministries of Social Affairs and of Health and Social
Protection seek to safeguard the welfare of children, and the
Government has also encouraged the formation of nongovernmental
organizations, such as the Abidjan Legal Center for the Defense
of Children.

There is a parental preference for educating boys rather than
girls, which is noticeable throughout the country but more
pronounced in rural areas.  According to a 1991 U.N. report,
females in Cote d'Ivoire receive only one-third of the
schooling of males.  Sexual harassment of female students by
male teachers is commonplace.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in Cote d'Ivoire but
is nevertheless practiced, particularly among the rural
population in the north and west.  The procedure is usually
performed on young girls or at puberty as part of a rite of
passage; it is generally done outside modern medical facilities
and may be extremely painful and dangerous to health.  The
Government does not make strong efforts to prevent the
practice, and traditional authorities in rural areas continue
to uphold it.  According to an independent expert in the field,
as many as 60 percent of Ivorian women have undergone FGM.  The
practice is becoming less common as the population becomes
urbanized and better educated.

     People with Disabilities

There are no laws mandating accessibility for the disabled.
Laws do exist prohibiting the abandonment of the mentally or
physically handicapped, as well as enjoining acts of violence
directed at them.  Traditional practices, beliefs, and
superstitions vary, but infanticide in cases of serious birth
disabilities is less commonplace.  Disabled adults are not the
specific targets of abuse, but it is difficult for them to
compete with able-bodied workers in the tight job market.  The
Government supports special schools, associations, and
artisans' cooperatives for the disabled.