Held from the 24th to 29th August 2020 in Yamoussoukro, the opening ceremony was marked by the participation of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Côte d'Ivoire and a number of local authorities, notably the Regional Prefect and the Mayor of Yamoussoukro. In his opening speech, Mr. Florian Karner, Resident Representative of KAS, emphasised that due to its credibility among the population and its neutrality towards political actors, the CNDH is an actor of hope for the people. Thereafter, His Excellency the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Côte d'Ivoire, Mr. Ingo Herbert, expressed Germany's willingness to stand by Côte d'Ivoire in its efforts to promote a peaceful and transparent electoral process. Finally, the representative of the Regional Prefect, Mr. Yaya Coulibaly, Secretary General of the Prefecture of Yamoussoukro, welcomed the initiative and urged all stakeholders to work impartially, neutrally and professionally to ensure that the upcoming elections respect human rights in order to consolidate the country's democratic gains.
The various workshops of the seminar strengthened the capacities of the 31 chairpersons of the CNDH Regional Commissions and 81 human rights officers in Côte d'Ivoire. A total of 11 training modules were delivered to provide both groups with the basic knowledge and tools needed to understand all aspects of the electoral process in order to better observe and evaluate the respect for human rights during the electoral period. To this end, the modules addressed several key aspects of the electoral process; from the role of each stakeholder (e.g. Electoral Management Body, political parties and other organisations) to the normative framework of elections as well as the mechanisms for monitoring the electoral cycle and for preventing gender-based violence, to different observation techniques and the evaluation of the respect of the rule of law. To make the content of the modules more accessible, the training sessions were interactive and included a variety of practical exercises.
In addition, the various chairpersons of the CNDH Regional Commissions and the human rights officers were encouraged to hold restitution workshops in their respective regions for their members, thus enabling the programme to impact a wider audience. In view of the 2020 presidential elections in Côte d'Ivoire, the Executive Secretary of the CNDH, Mr. Sindou Bamba, offered his advice to the participants. He invited them to commit themselves with integrity and professionalism and to scrupulously respect the missions of the CNDH to give credibility to the institution's action on the ground during the electoral period and to enable Côte d'Ivoire to peacefully pass this important democratic test.