Analysing information collected over a year, including during an international mission to Abidjan in December , the report sheds light on the worrying state of justice in the country since the crisis, the lack of prospects for justice at the international level, and the expectations of victims and survivors of international crimes in the face of persistent impunity.
The crisis began when the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to hand over power to President-elect Alassane Ouattara after the November presidential elections. In the five months of violence and armed conflict that ensued, at least 3, people were killed and over women raped. Armed forces on both sides sometimes targeted civilians on the basis of their political, ethnic, or religious affiliation. Based on an analysis of the evolution of the judicial management of the post-electoral crisis by the Ivorian authorities over the past 11 years, the joint report by FIDH, MIDH, and LIDHO demonstrates and denounces: β how the authorities have frustrated efforts to bring justice for the crimes of the post-election crisis; β the extent to which political power has interfered in judicial matters.
Mr Ouattara proclaimed that the Ivorian state was "at the dawn of a new era of hope" in building the rule of law. In May , he declared: "Justice will be the same for all There are no exceptions, there is no discrimination, the law is the same for all.
The cycle of impunity continues. However, in , shortly before his re-election for a second term, a major shift began. This gave victims and civil society the impression that the Ivorian government β and President Ouattara himself β were no longer motivated by the same political will to support the judicial proceedings underway, both nationally and internationally, particularly those concerning pro-Ouattara military commanders whose troops are suspected of having committed numerous cases of sexual violence and targeted killings during the crisis.
On 6 August , contradicting all his commitments to justice made since , President Ouattara granted amnesty to people β possibly including those suspected of the most serious crimes β charged or convicted of crimes related to the crisis or the subsequent attacks on the state. Not only is it contrary to the obligations of the Ivorian state, which has ratified the major international and regional human rights treaties, but it is also a decision that shows contempt for the victims by allowing alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to escape prosecution.
