In order to ensure this equality and also protect the vulnerable segments of the women population, Côte
d’Ivoire, among others, passed Law No. 98-757 of 23 December 1998 against female genital mutilation.
In this regard, the government has developed a national strategy to combat gender-based violence, which
takes into account the protection, rehabilitation of victims and socio-professional reintegration of some
perpetrators including female excision practitioners in order to reduce the canker or even eradicate it.
Moreover, as part of the awareness raising among the population on human rights, the government
undertakes mobile human rights campaigns every year with the aim of sensitising the population about
their rights. Between 2012 to 2015, 13 regional capitals benefitted from the outreach of these mobile
campaigns.
Recommendation XIII-Ensure effective implementation of the Law of 23 December 1998 punishing
female genital mutilation and sexual harrassment.
This law is in force and the offenders are severely punished. Pursuant to this law, several female excision
practitioners have been punished by the courts. For instance, in Katiola, 9 excision practitioners were
sentenced by the court. In Odienné, in March 2015, the National Gendarmerie Brigade arrested a village
chief who ordered the excision of several pupils in his village.
One can also talk about Law No. 98-756 of 23 December 1998 amending and supplementing the Law
instituting the Criminal Code also penalizing sexual harrassment, forced labour and early or forced
marriages.
Within the context of this law, a national strategy has been developed to combat early marriages through
awareness raising campaigns. The effect, among others, is the cancellation of a forced and early marriage
contracted by Kouma Affoussiata, born in 2001 (14 years), a pupil in JSS 1 4, at the Modern Secondary
School in Tengréla (900 kilometres north of Abidjan), who was forced into a marriage on Thursday 23
January 2014, the immediate effect of which led to her stopping classes altogether.
The cancellation was as a result of the explanations given by the school headmaster of the little girl who
defended the government’s campaigns for the enrolment of girls. He maintained that position by raising the
issue that in the previous week, in Madinani, in the northern part of Côte d'Ivoire, a father who had forced
his underage daughter, a school pupil, under similar conditions had been imprisoned.
In the same vein, the Bouaké court ( in the central part of Côte d’Ivoire) sentenced Amidou Touré to 12
months’ imprisonment together with a fine for compelling his 11-year old daughter, Ramatou Touré, a class
4 pupil, to contract an early marriage with his cousin by far older than the daughter.
Recommendation XIV. Prosecute and arraign the perpetrators of sexual violence before the courts and
ensure the creation of a Support and Compensation Fund for victims ;
Sexual violence is punishable by law in Côte d’Ivoire and the perpetrators are usually sentenced when such
cases are brought to the notice of the competent authorities.
The number of sexual violence cases reported decreased from 776 in 2011 to 731 in 2012, then to 444
during the first nine months of 2013. This translates into a significant decline in the number of cases of
sexual violence in Côte d’Ivoire.
Analyses indicate that armed men were responsible for 135 incidents of rape in 2012 as against 343 cases
in 2011, representing a reduction of two-thirds (2/3). Within the period from January to September 2013,
ninety-six (96) new cases of sexual violence were perpetrated by the police or by unidentified persons
wielding light weapons, especially during robbery in homes.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Defence, in the light of its zero tolerance for sexual violence, took disciplinary
measures by dismissing about twenty military men deemed culpable for sexual violence-related cases.
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