Abidjan, 23 September 2009... The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y. J. Choi, on Wednesday, 23 September 2009, in Abidjan, opened the third meeting of heads of office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in West Africa.

On this occasion, he spoke about the numerous progress made in the Ivorian peace process, such as the successful holding of the mobile courts, the identification and electoral registration operation which resulted in the registration of more than 6.5 million persons as well as the freedom of movement which is effective in the country.

Mr. Choi also highlighted the technical challenges that remain with regard to the organization of presidential election which he considered as "within reach", before encouraging Ivoirians to consolidate the achievements.

The Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire stressed the need for the respect and promotion of human rights within the framework of the restoration of democracy and crisis resolution.

The host of the meeting, the head of UNOCI's Human Rights Division, Simon Munzu, said that he had observed a noticeable improvement in the human rights situation in Côte d'Ivoire.

"Since the beginning of the implementation of the Ouagadougou Political Agreement, there is a calm political climate; people are able to move inside the country freely. All this contributed to the decrease of some violations which were directly connected to political conflicts," added Mr. Munzu, who pointed out however there were still human rights violations in the country.

Explaining the reason for the presence of human rights experts at the meeting, Mr. Munzu said that it was a consultation meeting to review the human rights situation in order to reach an agreement and decide on the terms and conditions to further reinforce the common efforts with regard to human rights protection and promotion in the country.

"Several West Africa countries are considering carrying out elections by 2012," said Mr. Munzu, who considered that these often bring about human rights violations. "We must assess the situation and take necessary measures in order to prevent them and if we succeed, see how to tackle these phenomena when the time comes".

The three-day meeting gathered together Chiefs of Human Rights Divisions of peacekeeping missions in West Africa, as well as those of United nations agencies who came from the headquarters of the High Commission of Human Rights in Geneva, Togo, Senegal, Guinea, Niger, Guinea-Bissau and Côte d'Ivoire.