CÔTE D'IVOIRE: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Côte d'Ivoire's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
Under article 87 of the Constitution of Côte d'Ivoire, ratified treaties or international agreements including the Convention on the Rights of the Child have superior authority to national legislation.  As such, the CRC may be invoked before the courts and administrative authorities.

Constitution: Title I of the Constitution contains a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but only two that makes specific reference to the rights of children:

• Art. 6: requires the State to assure the protection of children, the aged and the 'handicapped'
• Art. 8: enshrines a duty of the State and Public Collectivities to the development of youth, and to create favourable conditions for civic and moral education, as well as protection against moral exploitation and abandonment

Legislation: There is no comprehensive Children's Act in Ivorian law; rather, provisions of particular relevance to children's rights are found throughout various Codes, Acts and Decrees. These include, but are by no means limited to:

• Act No. 81-640 of 31 July 1981, the Penal Code
• Act No. 95-15 of 12 January 1995, the Labour Code
• Act No. 68-595 of 20 December 1968 , the Code of Social Welfare
• Act No. 61-415 of 14 December 1961, on the Nationality Code
• Act No. 92-464 of 30 July 1992, on the suppression of certain forms of violence
• Act No. 95-685 of 7 September 1995, on education
• Act No. 64-375 of 7 October 1964, on marriage
• Act No. 83-799 of 2 August 1983, on civil status
• Act No. 64-373 of 7 October 1964, on naming
• Act No. 70-483 of 3 August 1970, the Minority Act
• Decree No. 2000-830 of 22 November 2000, establishing a National Human Rights Commission
• Decree No. 72-747 of 24 November 1972, concerning the regulation and control of films and sound recordings

Legal Research
The Constitution and a selection of legal codes are available in French through the Les Ivoiriens website (http://www.lesivoiriens.net/CotedIvoire/CI-Constitution.html), and the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan has published the Constitution in English (http://abidjan.usembassy.gov/ivoirian_constitution2.html). The World Law Guide provides access to a selection of Ivoirian legislation in French (http://www.lexadin.nl/wlg/legis/nofr/oeur/lxwecdi.htm), as does the International Labour Organisation's NATLEX database (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=CIV). In addition, the GlobaLex project at New York University has published a guide to legal research in the country (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Cote_dIvoire.htm) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/ci/) and the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/cotedivoire.php) provide access to a selection of legal and governmental resources.

Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any national court decisions from Côte d'Ivoire that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case Law Research
National court decisions from Côte d'Ivoire do not appear to be readily available online.

Compliance with the CRC
In its Concluding Observations of 2001, the Committee on the Rights of the Child welcomed the State's review of national laws to identify inconsistencies with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but nevertheless expressed concern that the necessary steps had not been taken to bring national law into conformity. The Committee urged the State to pursue legal reform, including the development of a comprehensive children's code.

In depth analysis
Among the more specific issues raised by the Committee, several turned on the failure of the State to adequately implement and enforce laws on children's rights issues. While noting that the State has passed legislation prohibiting female genital mutilation, instituted a Constitutional prohibition on torture, and provided for a children's maintenance allowance, the Committee expressed concern that the provisions within these Acts have not been effectively carried into practice. FGM remained widespread, ill-treatment of children in prisons and other detention was rife, and few people knew of their rights to financial support. The Committee urged the State to take steps to properly implement these laws, including through education and training.

The Committee also highlighted pervasive failings within the justice system, noting that “limited progress [had been] achieved in establishing a functioning system of juvenile justice throughout the country”. Of particular concern were the small number of juvenile justice courts, judges and social workers; the poor conditions for children held in detention facilities; the low minimum age of criminal responsibility (10 years); the lack of a right for children to be heard in legal proceedings; and the absence of rehabilitation and reintegration programmes for children in conflict with the law. The Committee recommended that the State engage in thorough reform of the juvenile and criminal justice systems, in particular addressing these concerns.

Several issues also emerged out of the way in which children were defined within Ivorian law. The Committee highlighted the low minimum age of criminal responsibility as well as the discriminatory minimum ages for marriage for boys (20) and girls (18) and the lack of a minimum age for the end of compulsory education. The Committee urged the State to bring all of the relevant laws into conformity with the standards set by the Convention without discrimination.

Current legal reform projects
At the time of the State's 2001 report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Government indicated that it intended to establish a comprehensive code on children's rights, though as of July 2012 this had not yet been achieved.