Côte d'Ivoire has a mixed record of human rights observance. The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators ranked the country ninety-sixth on political rights and ninety-second on civil rights out of 144 nations. Freedom House has consistently rated Côte d'Ivoire low on its scale of political rights and civil liberties; nonetheless, in 1980 it elevated the country from the status of "not free" to "partly free." This rating put Côte d'Ivoire in the same category as Transkei (part of South Africa) and ranked it freer than Guinea but less free than Senegal. The Economist World Human Rights Guide rated the country as "poor," while the United States Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1987 officially characterized human rights conditions in Côte d'Ivoire as "generally satisfactory."

Côte d'Ivoire was a signatory to a number of international human rights conventions, including the Slavery Convention of 1926, the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery of 1956, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and Civilians in Time of War, and the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1967. It had not yet signed the 1953 Convention on the Political Rights of Women, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948, or the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966.

Data as of November 1988

NOTE: The information regarding Cote d'Ivoire on this page is re-published from The Library of Congress Country Studies and the CIA World Factbook. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cote d'Ivoire Human Rights information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cote d'Ivoire Human Rights should be addressed to the Library of Congress and the CIA.