In the last instance, they were defending their right to education, and the right to education for children in rural areas.
They were detained and later were made to disappear. Their families and communities have led a tireless quest to find them, with little empathy from the authorities. However, their plight has been heard and supported worldwide as global shows of solidarity since Sept to date testify. In a country with over 22, forced disappearances since , the heart of the Mexican people is full of indignation.
Mexican in biggest protest yet over missing students. The Forced Disappearance of 43 Students in Mexico. Missing group of students in Mexico are all dead, claim authorities.
Born in Mexico and based in London, Mabel Encinas works in the fields of education, psychology and art, with a particular interest in the role of human emotions in social life. Mabel has been a lecturer and has undertaken educational research and development in a number of institutions, both in Mexico and the UK. Pasar al contenido principal. Mabel Encinas. If you're a human, don't change the following field Nombre Your first name. It would be more appropriate if the question of suspension should be treated on a case-by-case basis by the court or arbitral tribunal in the context of provisional measures.
Furthermore, a dispute settlement clause would only be relevant if the draft articles were intended to become a treaty. As such, a more general clause, regarding procedural recommendations, would be appropriate. Since countries are not able to fight climate change on equal terms, close international collaboration between all countries is necessary, he said, emphasizing that developed countries must support developing countries with adequate financial and technical means, technology sharing and climate resilience building.
Sea-level rise has potential to create many legal issues on different levels. For example, the areas where delimitation of maritime jurisdiction areas have not taken place, sea-level rise might have potential effects for the final delimitation. Yet these regimes are not insulated from general international law. He also underlined the importance of stability, security and legal certainty, regarding baselines and maritime delimitation. XU CHI China , on "Immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction", said that draft article 17 has the character of a special dispute settlement clause.
Noting that dispute settlement clauses are only incorporated in legally binding instruments, such as treaties, he pointed out that the form of the final outcome of this topic is still open. Further, that article sets a six-month or twelve-month time limit for negotiations between States, which seems to imply that if a settlement is not reached within these time limits, the parties concerned should submit the dispute to arbitration or judicial settlement.
This kind of provision may, in practice, create difficulties for countries. Reiterating the call for transparency in the processes of the Study Group, he said that it should fully reflect national concerns to ensure credibility and representativeness. The issue of sea-level rise had not been considered in the negotiation of the Law of the Sea Convention. Therefore, the study of this issue should consider other sources of law.
However, no uniform practice has formed yet on the issue of sea-level rise, he said, cautioning the Commission against over-emphasizing regional practices and causing fragmentation of legal norms. Thus, it does not reflect customary international law. One concern is that the prior reports on procedural aspects of immunity reflected significant methodological challenges. There is generally very little visibility into criminal investigations that do not result in prosecutions brought by national authorities; case law in that area is exceedingly sparse.
As such, he underscored that the adopted provisions should not be viewed as codifying existing international law, but instead should be viewed as proposals for the development of law. She also expressed concern over several statements in the recent report, as well as the methodology employed by the Study Group. In regard to the potential emergence of rules of customary international law, given the limited State practice, it is doubtful whether any conclusion regarding evidence of existing binding rules of international law about sea-level rise could be drawn at this juncture, she said.
As for draft article 7, it does not represent the current state of international law and should be deleted. Regarding draft article 10, she said she rejected the possible underlying assumption that the question of immunity should be considered by the forum State only if the State of the official invokes immunity. On draft article 18, she recalled that the Special Rapporteur argued that a specific draft article on the issue of international criminal tribunals would be necessary to clarify that immunities before international criminal tribunals should be excluded from the scope of the draft articles.
Thus, draft article 18 is redundant and may cause confusion; it should therefore be omitted. In territorial inundation due to sea-level rise situations, the territory and the population does not necessarily fall under the control of a different State or Government, he pointed out.
Instead, it can be presumed that the population and the Government persist at the point of inundation. Given the concerning trajectory of the world, people most immediately affected must be able to rely on the presumption that international law will continue to uphold their right to self-determination, including its manifestation through Statehood, as well as through civil and political, economic and social rights.
While the topic is indeed limited in scope to immunity from foreign jurisdiction, the Commission must ensure that its current work on the topic does not alter nor compromise existing norms and principles of international criminal law. As well, the relationship between national and international courts must be considered, as international criminal courts often rely on States for exercising their jurisdiction pursuant to the principles of subsidiarity and complementarity.
She noted that she could support a related provision in the draft articles, as well as a clause relating to dispute settlement. On that, draft article 17 as proposed by the Special Rapporteur, is a good starting point for discussion. She commended the approach in the first Issues Paper of mapping past and current State practice on response measures to sea-level rise, as well as its comments on other useful elements — such as treaty and customary international law, judicial decisions of international and national courts and tribunals, and the analyses of scholars.
Referring to the concluding report of the UN75 Office, published in January, she noted that the key findings of its survey and dialogues pointed out two main challenges that will intersect in subtopics of the future work of the Study Group — climate change and human rights.
In that regard, the work of the Study Group — with the second Issues Paper on the remaining subtopics of study: Statehood and protection of persons affected by sea-level rise — is of great interest.
Regarding article 8 ante , she said that the language constitutes a fair attempt to ensure the applicability of all procedural safeguards to all circumstances in which a State official might face the exercise of criminal jurisdiction by a foreign State. On article 8, she noted that the question of immunity should be addressed immediately when knowledge of its incidence, in the context of a criminal proceeding, occurs.
One of the most complex elements of the issue pertains to the effect that rising sea-level has on the baselines from which maritime areas are to be determined. In this regard, her country had provided examples of national legislation and treaty practice that might be relevant — even if indirectly — to sea-level rise in relation to the law of the sea. She also underscored the integrity of the Convention of the Law of the Sea, stating that the outcome should not lead to amending it.
That article should not be read as creating a hierarchical relationship between different legal frameworks, but rather recognizing that specialized treaty regimes may have a different treatment to immunities than customary international law provides for national jurisdictions.
Sea-level rise poses an existential threat to some States, threatens human livelihoods, affected population mobility and may have legal implications over existing maritime zones and borders.
Further, it must consider the types and scope of immunity granted by national legislation, and require advance communication of any claim to exercise jurisdiction over a State official. This obligation to notify is the first guarantee for a State to safeguard its interests by invoking or waiving immunity. She added that work on this topic must balance respecting international law and ensuring adequate procedural safeguards. However, she stressed the importance of upholding its tenets on maritime borders, despite physical changes to the same, resulting from rising sea levels.
Further, if States lose territory as a result of sea-level rise, all principles of international law must apply. Cuba, for its part, is ready to share its experience in protecting those who live in coastal areas from extreme climate events, she said.
He supported the stance that the forum State has to assess the issue of immunity in each individual case without delay. However, international criminal jurisdiction is clearly outside the scope of the present topic, since it always stems from a specific treaty rather than from general international law.
Nonetheless, he would prefer that the topic not be a stand-alone article, but instead be addressed in draft article 1 on scope.
The Study Group should ground its work in relevant practice of States and international and regional organizations. He also reiterated that any outcome on that topic must reaffirm the universal nature of the Convention on the Law of the Sea and the vital need of preserving its integrity, as well as the importance of principles incorporated in the Convention, including but not limited to, the balance of rights and obligations between coastal States and other States. However, he said that the divergent views regarding crimes which do not apply immunity ratione materiae draft article 7 have been impacting the entire discussion on this topic, including drafting article 8 ante.
He expressed his expectation that this issue will be resolved, and the Commission will show Member States a persuasive explanation concerning draft article 7. As shown in the Declaration on Preserving Maritime Zones in the Face of Climate Change-Related Sea-Level Rise, issued by the Pacific Islands Forum in August, climate change-related, sea-level rise can imperil the livelihoods and well-being of peoples, particularly in island countries; it undermines the full realization of a peaceful, secure and sustainable future.
He expressed his hope that the Study Group will expand discussion on the identified topics on a priority basis. It is significant that many countries have agreed with the primacy of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, even in tackling climate change-related sea-level rise.
He also expressed his appreciation that the Pacific Islands Forum agrees with this understanding. The Convention on the Law of the Sea sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.
The existence of clear rules serves to avoid abuse and allows for the development of peaceful international relations. Regarding the dispute settlement clauses, she added that the existence of a procedure which includes consultation, negotiations and judicial or arbitral settlement could be very useful for States to turn to.
That will institutionalize peaceful methods for resolving potential disputes resulting from violations of immunity of State officials. Further, she stressed, the study of procedural safeguards should not be a pretext for reopening already adopted draft articles. It was important to discuss how this phenomenon impacts the rights and obligations of States, with regard to their territory and the law of the sea. While the topics to be tackled by the Working Group are extremely technical, they have a great impact on the international legal order.
Highlighting the status of islands, rocks and low tide elevations, as well as the consequences of the displacement of maritime zones, she said these can have consequences on the sovereign and economic rights of States. It was also crucial to look at the practice of coastal States since these are more vulnerable to the phenomenon of sea level rise. Current scenarios suggest that, even if the international community managed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, serious collateral effects that imperil lives and human rights would pose questions for international law.
Against that backdrop, it is necessary to assist those who will be affected by seeking viable solutions under international law to the factual consequences of sea-level rise. The Study Group on this topic must consider the Convention on the Law of the Sea and give its principles of international stability and peaceful coexistence of States the prevalent position they deserve. He also pointed out that sea-level rise would not be a fundamental change of circumstances like that contemplated by article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, as it affects both land and maritime borders, which should be considered unchangeable.
Legal stability and certainty require maintaining maritime baselines and external limits for maritime zones, he added. While recognizing the importance of notification within the general framework of procedural safeguards, she noted that prior notification of that kind can have undesirable effects on the forum State's exercise of its criminal jurisdiction. The Commission should clarify those undesirable effects and assess whether prompt notification, as provided for in article 42 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, would mitigate them.
The Commission should also define in greater detail the acts that would imply such a notification obligation. Rules on immunity should not be considered in isolation, but in their interaction with other norms of international law.
As the holder of this right, a State can give consent to the exercise by another State of criminal jurisdiction over one of its officials. They did nothing. So I chose to trust my security to students. Students interviewed by Human Rights Watch allege that, on an apolitical basis, FESCI takes a portion of all student scholarship money in plain view of university officials. Students told Human Rights Watch that FESCI representatives sit right next to the area where the money is distributed by the university to collect "their share," often about 5 percent.
There are over 60, university students in the Abidjan area, yet just under 10, beds in student dormitories. In this context of scarcity, the university administration, a division of the Ministry of Higher Education, allots nearly 4, beds to different student organizations based on a quota system.
Beyond the rooms allotted under the quota system, according to the ministry, FESCI has illegally seized control of at least others beds by forcibly evicting students. FESCI's control of the dorms provides it with enormous political and financial power. Many of these rooms are rented to individuals who are either no longer students or who never were students to begin with. With respect to political control, numerous students interviewed by Human Rights Watch report that that since , many students from the north or those suspected of supporting the political opposition, have been selectively evicted by FESCI.
In February , FESCI's newly elected secretary general, Augustin Mian, participated in a ceremony in which he ceremonially handed over the key to illegally occupied rooms to university administration officials. While this is a promising development, it remained unclear as of this writing what it will mean in practice, and whether it will do anything to prevent illegal occupation in the future.
Since violence and criminal activity by FESCI members have often spilled over the bounds of the university environment, and have taken the form of mass mobilizations and attacks on perceived opponents of the government, including opposition politicians, judges, the media, and employees of the United Nations.
These activities, which often directly promoted the interests of the ruling FPI party, typically met with little response from police and judicial authorities. Since the political crisis erupted in , members of FESCI, together with other overtly pro-government groups such as the Young Patriots, have staged numerous violent political demonstrations in support of the government.
On some occasions, these violent protests have resulted from direct public call to action by high-ranking FPI party leaders issued to all FPI partisans. In some instances, youth protestors engaged in illegal activity such as manning unauthorized checkpoints have been provided direct logistical and other support by members of the government security forces.
Pro-government youth set up a barricade on January 17, Hundreds of similar roadblocks were erected throughout Abidjan.
Human Rights Watch is aware of no instance in which the authorities arrested a member of FESCI or the Young Patriots for actions taken in January , despite paralyzing traffic for days, openly extorting passersby, and carrying clubs and other weapons. Youth have shown that they are still ready, still mobilized [to defend the republic].
In July , members of FESCI, the Young Patriots, and other pro-government youth groups once again caused major disturbances in Abidjan and other cities across the country, erecting barricades, burning cars, and forcibly disrupting the " Audiences Foraines " — public hearings for those residents, predominately from the north, who lack identification papers — that were a critical component of the peace process.
Actions taken by pro-government youth groups in response to this call to arms effectively ground to a halt a national program intended to identify and provide official papers for Ivorians who have no documentation. After the events of July , the identification process did not start again until September , this time with the blessing of President Gbagbo and his FPI party.
Unlike July where a call to arms by political leaders led to massive disruptions and clashes in the street between partisans of rival parties, there have been no public protests by pro-government youth groups such as FESCI and the Young Patriots. The power of FESCI and other "patriotic" youth groups to mobilize youth into the streets since the crisis erupted has been one of the keys to their national influence. It is due to the mass mobilizations such as those discussed above that members of FESCI and other "patriotic" groups believe that they have "saved the republic" and "kept Gbagbo in power.
On several occasions since the military-political crises erupted in , members of FESCI have been responsible for attacks on opposition leaders, members of the political opposition, and rebel leaders occupying ministerial positions as part of a political accord. In no instance that Human Rights Watch is aware of have these attacks resulted in an official investigation or any arrests.
Two persons were seriously injured, and a dozen wounded as assailants attacked PDCI youth with clubs and iron rods. In February , three FESCI members were arrested, tried, and sentenced to four months' imprisonment for assault and battery of a suspected thief they had caught on campus. Though police had been stationed around the building in anticipation of the protest, protesters surged into the building, beating several magistrates.
Human Rights Watch interviewed one of the judges beaten that day, who explained that while some police tried to stop the attackers, others stood by and did nothing, while others even collaborated with FESCI and the Young Patriots:. After the incident, a magistrates' union went on strike and demanded a formal inquiry, as did the president of the bar association.
The US embassy issued a statement denouncing "a lack of respect for the law [and the] impunity some groups enjoy. According to the magistrate beaten that day, today the complaint is "almost forgotten. On several instances in and , members of FESCI besieged and invaded buildings belonging to Ivorian print and broadcast media, often leaving a trail of damaged property in their wake. RTI agreed to broadcast a pre-recorded statement later that evening.
In his message, FESCI leader Serge Koffi announced that he had "taken" the television station and urged young people to take to the streets to demand the departure of foreign troops. In July , angry that RTI had broadcast statements from representatives of a striking professors union, members of FESCI stormed the station in an attempt to read their own statement:. According to reports, police came to the scene and negotiated with the attackers until FESCI left the newspaper's headquarters.
However, some members of both human rights groups postulate that the teachers strike was a pretext, and that FESCI's real goal was both the elimination of files and records that contained details regarding FESCI's misdeeds, as well as punishment for having publicly denounced FESCI's actions in the past.
In one of the attacks, which lasted over two hours, human rights activists described to Human Rights Watch how local police stood by and watched as the destruction ensued, yet failed to intervene or otherwise try to stop FESCI members. If police reinforcements were called, they did not arrive. Both organizations expressed surprise at the attacks. Both organizations had been involved in attempting to promote peaceful resolution to conflicts on campus and had undertaken initiatives to reduce the incidence of campus violence.
One lawyer following the case for LIDHO expressed hope, but acknowledged that there will likely be severe challenges:. Another human rights defender expressed the importance of the case advancing where others in the past have failed:. Frictions developed between AGEECI and the Student Committee, resulting in a particularly violent confrontation in August in which one member of the Student Committee was shot in the chest, but survived, and several other members of the Committee were wounded by machete.
A May clash between members of the Student Committee and other students, including a few members of AGEECI, resulted from an attempt by members of the Student Committee to determine the list of those eligible for a recently announced student aid package.
Based on conflicting accounts by both sides, blame for the violent incidents of and is difficult to determine. However, it is clear that in both instances in which the New Forces rebels intervened, they arrested only members of AGEECI and other non-Committee students, despite the fact that members of the Student Committee were also involved in the violence.
In recent years, there have been increasing efforts on the part of the Ministry of Higher Education, Ivorian civil society, and occasionally even FESCI's leadership itself to curtail violence in the university context. The chief of staff for the minister of higher education told Human Rights Watch that the struggle against university violence is one of the ministry's top priorities, and that the ministry wanted to generate more university-wide dialogue on the subject.
The Observatory leads sensitization campaigns intended to increase "dialogue, peace, and tolerance" on campus. While non-violence education and government-sponsored workshops are welcome and necessary, some human rights defenders interviewed argued these initiatives must be accompanied by efforts to tackle impunity and a strong signal from FPI party leaders that violence and criminal activity on the part of FESCI's members will no longer be tolerated. In an interview shortly after his election to the head of FESCI in May , Serge Koffi announced that he wanted to make FESCI into a "responsible union" and that the "introduction of machetes at the University had tarnished the image of the student.
Mian noted that:. In FESCI turned over several members accused of crimes to the police, including murder and assault. While these are welcome words and actions, criminal offenses perpetrated by members of FESCI from up through the present suggest that much work remains to be done. However, according to victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch, those complaints almost never result in even so much as a member of FESCI being questioned by the police, let alone charged.
During Human Rights Watch's investigation into FESCI perpetrated-violence, interviewees ranging from students and professors, to policemen and judges frequently asserted that much of FESCI's political power and criminal behavior stems from the fact that it is "protected by power" and "supported by the FPI. In terms of direct support, though it is often alleged that the National Bureau of FESCI receives financial contributions from either the presidency or high-ranking members of the FPI party, no one interviewed by Human Rights Watch was able to come up with any hard evidence to support this claim.
A far more pervasive form of encouragement for FESCI's activities, however, both those that appear politically motivated, as well as those with a more base criminal or pecuniary motive, is the impunity associated with nearly all offenses perpetrated by members of FESCI. In interviews with Human Rights Watch, police, officials in a mayor's office, professors, and students referred to university residences alternatively as a "state within a state," "a foreign embassy," and a "no mans land" due to the absolute control exercised by FESCI and the inability or unwillingness of state security forces to intervene in the face of criminal conduct by FESCI members.
Some police officers interviewed by Human Rights Watch expressed great frustration at what they perceive to be their inability to take action against FESCI-perpetrated abuses:. Other police officers and judges interviewed by Human Rights Watch provided similar testimony. One high-ranking police officer noted that, "If they would give us the green light to take care of things we could settle the problem, but we can't take action because we know they are protected by the party in power.
Judges and police interviewed by Human Rights Watch explained that authorities typically fail to take action against crimes by FESCI members for a mixture of reasons. Some expressed fear for their career, others fear for personal or family safety, and others simply the unpredictability of taking action against those they believe to have enormous political cover.
As alluded to in the account above, there is belief held by members of FESCI and others interviewed that by mobilizing street demonstrations at key junctures since the crisis erupted in , FESCI and other members of the "patriotic galaxy" have "saved the institutions of the republic" in general, and the Gbagbo government in particular. The National Director of Police explained that:. However, there seems to be a general feeling among former members of FESCI interviewed that mass protests and mobilizations have nevertheless landed blows in a moral and public relations battle against the rebellion.
In addition, as described in this report, FESCI and other members of the patriotic galaxy have mobilized to stymie the peace process at key junctures, often in ways that helped the FPI gain traction at politically precarious moments.
For this reason, many of those interviewed, from policemen to students, maintain that the government is reluctant to take legal action against members of FESCI both as a sort of recompense for actions taken on behalf of the government in the past, as well as the fact that FESCI's capacity to mobilize youth may be needed again in the future.
As one judge put it:. Other political observers interviewed by Human Rights Watch, including professors and diplomats, stated that the FPI is unlikely to bring members of FESCI to justice now because they may need to call upon FESCI's mobilization capacity and muscle during upcoming elections, currently scheduled in late November. Indeed, many of FESCI's activities have been publicized in local media and were known to judicial and police authorities interviewed by Human Rights Watch.
A frequent taunt FESCI members use, as repeated by dozens of students, teachers, and others interviewed by Human Rights Watch is, "We can beat you, and nothing will happen. We can kill you, and nothing will happen. One such instance involved the June killing of an accused thief on campus, and the second the October beating of two Abidjan city SOTRA bus drivers.
However, while these are welcome developments, such actions remain the exception rather than the rule. Since the crisis erupted, FESCI has had an at times contradictory relationship with the police, with authorities in limited circumstances seeking to curb FESCI's more nefarious activities, but more often turning a blind eye to them.
On still other occasions, frictions between members of the police and FESCI have degenerated into attacks and skirmishes. These dynamics were well illustrated by events in August and August In August , FESCI members attacked and ransacked an Abidjan police station, smashing windows of cars and buildings in the vicinity, in order to free two fellow members who had just been arrested for failure to stop their car for a police inspection.
No one has been questioned or arrested in connection with the attack. In an interview with Human Rights Watch, the then National Director of Police, Yapo Kouassi, said that he gave the order to free the students because "there are extremists in FESCI who could unleash violence all over Abidjan, which would jeopardize our fragile peace.
If I had really wanted to do that, things would have been a lot worse. In some instances, state security forces have acted in tandem with FESCI or other non-state groups to commit violations of human rights.
At times, FESCI members have benefited from the complicity of police officers or other authorities, also implicating the government in human rights abuses. But organizations like FESCI, even if supportive of the government, are not state actors and do not bear direct responsibility under international law for application and violation of international treaties. Rather, members of FESCI responsible for acts such as murder, rape, assault, and extortion should be held responsible by the state under Ivorian criminal law.
This has especially been true when these crimes are directed against northerners, Muslims, and other perceived opponents of the ruling FPI party. International law recognizes state accountability for failing to protect persons from rights abuses and violence by private actors. According to the UN Human Rights Committee, the international expert body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR, states are required "to respect and to ensure" the rights provided under the covenant.
To meet this obligation, a state must not only protect individuals against violations of rights by its agents, but "also against acts committed by private persons or entities that would impair the enjoyment of Covenant rights. Ultimately, the sense shared by many Ivorians that pro-government groups like FESCI are effectively "above the law" due to their allegiance to the ruling party undermines respect for bedrock institutions essential to building the rule of law such as independent and impartial courts and rights-respecting police.
Many of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch, including police, judges, professors, students, and officials from the ministries of higher education and of justice, noted that FESCI in its current violent and hegemonic form could not survive for long without the impunity from university disciplinary measures and criminal prosecution its members enjoy. The youth wings of several major political parties either are or have been headed by former FESCI leaders.
Beyond these "headliners," former members of FESCI are increasingly represented within the administration of different government ministries, and within security forces such as the police and the gendarmerie. Many of those interviewed, from police to professors and students, complained about the favoritism they allege FESCI members have had since in gaining entry to the training schools for the police and the gendarmerie, as well as the prestigious National School of Administration ENA , an elite institution intended to train high-level civil servants.
It remains to be seen whether these young leaders can move beyond this "training" as they enter their professional lives. The PDCI also contributed to what they have become today. So it's become a national problem that goes beyond a single party or a single government ministry. People need to recognize the problem that FESCI has become and that it is the fault of all the parties who both used and persecuted them.
The war with the rebels was an open crisis, but FESCI is a slow burning underground and internal war. Some people don't see the slippery slope we are on due to the war and upcoming elections, but it's a problem we will have to face in the future. No Ivorian government in the last twenty years has managed to find a way to deal responsibly with both legitimate student activism and inappropriate politically and criminally motivated student violence.
Labeled as "terrorists" and "wolves" in the s by the ruling PDCI party, FESCI was banned from existence, its leaders were jailed, and police were sent in to raid campus dormitories.
When the FPI party took power in , the government went to the opposite extreme, turning a blind eye to, and at times even being complicit in FESCI's more nefarious activities. To begin to create "the best school" for democracy and a culture of respect for human rights, the Ivorian government, civil society, and student groups need to work together to find a way to allow student groups, pro-government or otherwise, the space to enjoy rights to freedom of expression and association, while at the same time appropriately sanctioning any violence and criminality in which their members are implicated.
To be sure, the impunity that FESCI has exemplified since the crisis erupted mirrors a much larger national problem. Nevertheless, measures to combat impunity within the relatively restricted domain of the state-run university system might prove instructive in helping to find solutions on a broader national level. Putting an end to this impunity will be key to increasing freedom of expression, tolerance of dissent, and acceptance of competing groups and interests on campus, which are important not only to the future of Ivorian universities, but to the long-term health of Ivorian democracy as well.
Many of those who made the research underlying this report possible, particularly student research assistants, cannot be named due to security concerns, and we salute their courage and determination in the face of great risk to their own safety. Due to the rebels' known as the "New Forces" participation in an ongoing peace process and membership in a unity government, local Ivorian press and several other institutions have begun to use the term "ex-rebels" when referring to members of the New Forces.
For reasons of historical consistency, together with the fact that the New Forces have not yet fully disarmed, the term "rebel" is maintained throughout this report.
0コメント