discrimination in both urban and rural settings, and no progress had been made on the demarcation and titling of land. Illiteracy remained widespread and access to justice and employment with decent wages remained particularly inadequate. Indigenous women said their access to sexual and reproductive health care was limited; they faced gender-based violence including rape and early marriage; maternal and infant mortality rates were high; and they were food insecure.
CÔTE D’IVOIRE Republic of Côte d’Ivoire Head of state: Alassane Dramane Ouattara Head of government: Hamed Bakayoko (replaced Amadou Gon Coulibaly in July) Political activists, civil society representatives, journalists and others who expressed dissent were arbitrarily arrested. The government imposed a ban on public protests. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured during protests and clashes in the context of contested presidential elections. Impunity for past human rights violations continued.
BACKGROUND On 6 August, President Ouattara announced that he would run for re-election. In September, the Constitutional Council accepted his candidacy and rejected 40 other contenders, including former President Laurent Gbagbo and former Prime Minister Guillaume Soro, in part because they were not on the electoral list. The latter was sentenced in April in his absence to 20 years’ imprisonment on fraud-related charges. Opposition parties boycotted the 31 October presidential elections and called for civil disobedience, arguing that the 2016 Constitution did not allow the incumbent to run for a third term. However, the President was re-elected. On 2 November, the opposition announced the creation of its Transitional National Council, with the aim of
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
establishing a transitional government. Dozens of opposition members were arrested, including the presidential contender Pascal Affi N’Guessan, who was charged with conspiracy against state authority among other things. He was released under judicial supervision on 30 December.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Political activists, journalists and others who expressed dissent were harassed and arbitrarily arrested. According to Reporters Without Borders, on 4 March Yacouba Gbané and Barthélémy Téhin of Le Temps newspaper were fined XOF5 million (US$9,200) for publishing an article which criticized the authorities’ handling of public affairs. On 31 March, Vamara Coulibaly and Paul Koffi, of Soir Info and Nouveau Réveil newspapers respectively, were fined XOF2.5 million (US$4,600) for “disseminating false information”, after they published a letter from MP Alain Lobognon’s lawyers about their client’s harsh detention conditions. In August, political activists, civil society representatives and others who had called for demonstrations or attended peaceful protests against the President’s candidacy were arbitrarily arrested. Pulchérie Edith Gbalet, co-ordinator for the pro-democracy NGO Alternatives Citoyennes, was arrested at a hotel in Abidjan with two associates. The charges pending against them included disruption of public order and participation in an insurrectionary movement. Five women from the opposition party GPS (Générations et peuples solidaires) were also arrested while on their way to a peaceful protest. They all remained in detention in MACA prison in Abidjan at the end of the year. Several opposition figures were put under de facto house arrest in November after they created the Transitional National Council. On 3 December, two singers, known as Yode and Siro, were found guilty of propagation of false information with tribalist and racist overtones with the intention of rising a community against another, contempt of court and discrediting the
131
