The Transitional Justice Unit of the Human Rights Division of the United Nations Operation in Côte d'ivoire (UNOCI), in collaboration with the Organisation of Active Women of Côte d'ivoire, from 9 to 11 June 2015 organised a sensitisation workshop on respect for human rights to promote democracy, peace and reconciliation in Côte d'Ivoire in San Pedro, capital of the Bas-Sassandra region.



Speaking during the opening ceremony, UNOCI's coordinator based in San Pedro, Abdourahamane Ganda told participants : « My hope is that the recommendations made during this workshop would be implemented in such a way that forthcoming elections will take place without any violence and with respect for human rights».



During the workshop, some 40 participants were instructed on several modules such as «Transitionnelle Justice, Human Rights and exercising public liberty ; « Democratic principles » ; « Foundation, values, respect for public institutions and the challenge of democracy », « Peaceful conflict management; » « identification, prevention and resolution of conflict » and « the role of non-state actors in conflict resolution».



Among the recommendations made at the end of the workshop were : To fight againt violence by adopting non-violent behaviour, use of collaborative methods and using ethnic alliances to resolve conflict.



The representative of the Transitional Justice Unit of UNOCI Human Rights Division, Marguerite Bukuru, urged participants to make every effort to put into practice what they had learnt during the workshop.



« I'm counting on you to respect the commitment you have made today and transform it into action especially when dealing with other people, » said Mrs Bukuru.



For Kady Bakayoko, the president of women's group in San Pedro, the workshop has come at an opportune time. She said it provided her members with the opportunity to ensure that a peaceful environment prevails during elections in 2015. « After the amount of tension that we experienced in this region, we would like for the elections to take place peacefully and that total peace will return to Côte d'Ivoire. We would not like to relive the same atrocities we witnessed the last time. This is what motivated us to ask for this kind of human rights sensitisation from UNOCI, » she added.