COTE D'IVOIRE / STATELESS PEOPLE

The Côte d’Ivoire Women’s Legal Aid Association – supported by UNHCR – is working to combat statelessness, which leaves people on the margins of society, restricting their ability to work, own property, get an education and live full lives under the protection of the law. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:59
• Production Date: 22 May 2019
• Asset Language: French
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: STATELESSNESS
• Geographic Subject: COTE D'IVOIRE
• MAMS Id: 2397090
• Parent Id: 2397090
• Alternate Title: unifeed190522a

Description

STORY: COTE D'IVOIRE / STATELESS PEOPLE
TRT: 2:59
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: DIOULA / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 18 FEBRUARY 2019, OLLEO, IVORY COAST

Shotlist

1. UPSOUND (French) Kouassi Adjo Rosine, Lawyer, Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire:
“All those without documents, raise your hand!”
2. Wide shot, different groups of stateless
3. Wide shot, tree with Olleo’s people gathered around
4. Wide shot, among the rows from stateless
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Kouassi Adjo Rosine, Lawyer, Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire:
“We’re getting them registered, taking down all their information so they can be identified, with the name of their father and mother, their date of birth, all the information.”
6. Wide shot, among people gathered
7. Various shots, Rosine and Monique taking down information from the stateless people
8. Med shot, Rosine and Monique taking down information from Siloue’s son.
9. Med shot, Rosine and Monique taking down information from Siloue’s fathber.
10. Close up, Siloués father
11. SOUNDBITE (DIOULA) Siloué Ngolo, Stateless person:
“I’m afraid. I never got my papers – where would I travel to? Look at me. I’m an old man. Trying to run around to get my documents in order would be hard for me. But if I did have them, at my age, it would be good, because then my children would have them, if they needed them.”
12. Various shots, Siloué Ngolo family
13. Wide shot, Siloué Ngolo and wife
14. Wide shot, Rosine talking to Olleo’s inhabitants
15. SOUNDBITE (French) Kouassi Adjo Rosine, Lawyer, Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire:
“And you just have to say to the official, ‘I gave birth right here in the village’. Even if we don’t have identity papers, we still get to declare this birth!”
16. Various shots, Rosine talking to Olleo’s inhabitants
17. Wide shot, mother with baby listening
18. Aerial shot, zoom out from the crowd

Storyline

Legal aid specialists from the Côte d’Ivoire Women’s Legal Aid Association take their campaign against statelessness from village to village to educate people about how to obtain legal documents that establish their rights.

SOUNDBITE (French) Kouassi Adjo Rosine, Lawyer, Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire:
“We’re getting them registered, taking down all their information so they can be identified, with the name of their father and mother, their date of birth, all the information.”

There are different reasons for statelessness in the country. Some are historic migrants from other countries, and are thus do not have Ivorian ancestry to claim citizenship as required by law.

But many thousands of others are Ivorian by descent, and simply do not have access to documentation to prove it. The process for getting full nationality papers would be costly, complicated, time-consuming and dependent on the decision of a judge. Many would never even try. Without proof of citizenship, they live without protection of the law, nor have the right to higher education, a formal job, or to hold property.

SOUNDBITE (DIOULA) Siloué Ngolo, Stateless person:
“I’m afraid. I never got my papers – where would I travel to? Look at me. I’m an old man. Trying to run around to get my documents in order would be hard for me. But if I did have them, at my age, it would be good, because then my children would have them, if they needed them.”

The Women’s Legal Aid Assocation provides information to Ivorians about their rights and about possible avenues for action, including for babies born in rural areas or to marginalized communities. Many families have outrun the three-month period to declare a birth and thus to obtain a birth certificate directly. The legal aid specialists encourage the Ivorians they meet to sign up with them, and afterward take their official requests to a court to expedite the process.

SOUNDBITE (French) Kouassi Adjo Rosine, Lawyer, Association of Women Lawyers of Côte d'Ivoire:
“And you just have to say to the official, ‘I gave birth right here in the village’. Even if we don’t have identity papers, we still get to declare this birth!”

In 2015, the Abidjan Declaration committed the 15 African countries of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) to working to reduce statelessness. Two years later they made that a binding commitment. The goal now in Côte d’Ivoire is to have new legislation adopted that will make the path to identity cards and even nationality much smoother. The country has a new civil registration law that establishes a special procedure for the late registration of births, the return of identity documents and the transcription of birth certificates will help hundreds of thousands of people gain access to the state.