Strengthening participation of people with disabilities in electoral processes in Côte d'Ivoire
- Location
- Ivory Coast
- Project type
- Political participation
The Confederation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities of Côte d'Ivoire (COPH-CI) is a local non-governmental organisation whose objective is to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in Côte d'Ivoire.
As part of the implementation of its activities, the COPH-CI received funding for the implementation of the "Project to strengthen the political and civic participation of people with disabilities in electoral processes in Côte d’Ivoire “, which started in February 2020. This project is co-financed by two international partners: the European Union and the international organisation Christian Blind Mission (CBM). It is implemented in five localities, namely Abobo, Port-Bouët, Yopougon, Daloa and Bouaké for a period of three years.
The general objective of this project is to contribute to the promotion of civil and political rights and the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Côte d'Ivoire in accordance with article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) ratified by Côte d'Ivoire on January 10, 2014. This project, which will run from 2020 to 2023, targets approximately 150,000 voters with disabilities. It pursues the following three objectives:
- Effective registration of persons with disabilities on the electoral list in the project areas of the municipalities of Yopougon, Abobo, Port-Bouët, Bouaké and Daloa.
- The consideration of the specific needs of persons with disabilities by the various actors (the independent electoral commission CEI, political parties, media) during the election campaign period.
- The realisation of reasonable accommodations to guarantee the access of persons with disabilities to the electoral polls.
Thus, several major actions have been carried out within the framework of this project. These include the observatory of the presidential elections of October 31, 2020, the observatory of the legislative elections of March 06, 2021, the Workshop for strengthening the political and civic participation of persons living with disabilities co-organized by the Independent Electoral Commissions (CEI) and COPH-CI from March 22 to 24, 2022.
COPH-CI observation missions specifically aimed to:
- Detect barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities at three levels:
- Institutional accessibility;
- Physical accessibility;
- Accessibility of information;
- Collect disaggregated statistical data on the number of voters by type of disability and by gender;
- Make recommendations to overcome the barriers observed.
It emerges from these observations that of the 1,247 polling stations visited during the Legislative elections, 83.56% are not accessible to persons with disabilities.
As for the workshop to strengthen the political and civic participation of persons living with disabilities, it made it possible to carry out an in-depth analysis of the Electoral Code and the operating mode of the elections to bring them into conformity with Article 29 of the CRPD dealing with “Participation in political and public life”. The Electoral Commission submitted the conclusions of this workshop to the Government with a view to bringing about reforms.
Several other activities are expected within the framework of the project, in particular the signing of a formal collaboration framework between the CEI and the COPH-CI, the training of members of the CEI's central and departmental commissions, and a study trip to countries of the sub-region.
More information
Contact the Confederation of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities of Côte d'Ivoire (COPH-CI) via mail or Facebook.
