As the UN Human Rights Council (the Council) today [23 December] prepares to hold a Special Session on the situation of human rights in Ivory Coast, Amnesty International calls on the Council’s members to take effective measures to end the human rights violations.

Specifically Amnesty urges the Council to:

• Demand that the UN Operation in Ivory Coast (UNOCI) fully implements its mandate to uphold human rights in Ivory Coast
• Adopt measures that would prevent perpetrators and instigators of disappearances, extrajudicial executions and other serious human rights violations from committing further abuses.
• Urge the international community to provide UNOCI with all the resources needed to implement its mandate
• Call for all those responsible for human rights abuses to be held accountable
• Recall the declaration made by Ivory Coast before the International Criminal Court that it accepts its jurisdiction with respect to crimes committed on its territory since the events of 19 September 2002
• Ensure that it is kept regularly and promptly informed of developments on the ground and to be ready to resume its Special Session to consider information received that indicates new or persistent serious human rights violations.

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