Ongoing socio-political insecurity, failure to deliver impartial justice for past crimes, and inadequate progress in addressing the root causes of recent political and ethnic violence—notably the lack of an independent judiciary and impunity for government forces—undermined Côte d’Ivoire's emergence from a decade of grave human rights abuses.

A wave of attacks on villages and military installations launched within Côte d’Ivoire and from neighboring Liberia and Ghana—many, if not all, likely planned and carried out by militant supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo—fostered insecurity, reversed trends of demilitarization, and led to widespread rights abuses by the Ivorian military.

The first parliamentary elections in 11 years took place in December 2011. The Ivorian government also made meaningful progress in rebuilding rule of law institutions, particularly in the north, where state institutions were reestablished after a decade-long absence. Longstanding deficiencies within the judiciary, particularly corruption and the influence of political pressure, continued to undermine rights.

Eighteen months after the end of the 2010-2011 post-election crisis, justice for the grave crimes committed remained disturbingly one-sided. Ivorian authorities and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have yet to arrest and prosecute any member of President Alassane Ouattara's camp for post-election crimes, reinforcing dangerous communal divisions.

Côte d’Ivoire's international partners supplied significant assistance for justice and security sector reform, but remained reluctant to criticize the government publicly for its lack of progress on ensuring impartial justice and an end to security force abuses.

Insecurity and Lack of Disarmament Progress

Progress in restoring security was marred by attacks throughout the year that Ouattara's government blamed on pro-Gbagbo militants intent on destabilizing the country, a claim that an October report from the United Nations Panel of Experts on Côte d’Ivoire generally supported. Attackers killed at least 25 civilians during cross-border raids from Liberia between April and June, including a June 8 attack in which seven UN peacekeepers were killed.

Insecurity intensified in August and September, when armed men launched nine strikes, many of them seemingly coordinated and well-organized, against military installations in Côte d’Ivoire. In the most daring raid, attackers killed six soldiers on August 6 at the Akouédo military camp near Abidjan and absconded with a substantial cache of weapons.