The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Côte d’Ivoire, Aïchatou Mindaoudou, met on 20 May 2016, a delegation of women leaders led by the Minister of the Promotion of Women and Family and Children Protection, Euphrasia Kouassi Yao. The meeting was aimed at exchanging about the process of empowerment of women and at finding ways and means to increase their participation and their involvement in the upcoming legislative elections.

Speaking to journalists at the end of the encounter, the Minister said that the women of Côte d’Ivoire whose ultimate goal is to reach parity, have decided to go to elections with the objective of getting at least 30% of the seats of the next parliament, as well as those at the General Councils and mayor’s offices. To this end, she said, women expressed the hope that the parity be passed into law and promulgated, so that strategies could be put in place to identify and train women candidates. They further called for the ongoing advocacy and financing of communication for this purpose to continue in order to allow women to take their rightful place in this country.

For her part, the Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI), Aïchatou Mindaoudou, reiterated the commitment of the United Nations System (UNS) in general and more particularly that of UNOCI in supporting Ivorian women and the Ministry of the Promotion of Women and Family and Child Protection in the implementation of the ambitious and necessary program of women participation in Ivorian political life.

"Speaking of SNU, you know that there are specific bodies dealing with women issues, such as UN-Women. We at UNOCI, thanks to the mandate given to us by the Security Council, we support the Ministry in that area. Nevertheless, as I said to the Minister, UNOCI is about to leave. But before we leave, we will very closely support her and all the women of Côte d’Ivoire to see how they could increase their participation in these elections”, she said.