The Côte d'Ivoire government has taken a significant step towards protecting children from violence with the presentation of a national report on the country's commitments to eliminating violence against children. The report was presented to Minister of Women, Family, and Children Nassénéba Touré on September 30, 2026, in Abidjan. This development is in preparation for the second Global Ministerial Conference on Eliminating Violence Against Children, scheduled for November 17-18, 2026, in Manila, Philippines.
The report was compiled after technical consultations with key stakeholders, including representatives from various government departments and civil society organizations. According to Dr. Édouard Talnan, national consultant, the report assesses the implementation of Côte d'Ivoire's commitments made during the first Global Ministerial Conference on Eliminating Violence Against Children in Bogotá in 2024. The country's commitments included creating a safer school environment, improving services for child victims of violence, and enhancing community participation.
The national review highlights progress made in implementing these commitments but also notes persistent challenges. These challenges include territorial disparities in access to protection services, the prevalence of physical and humiliating punishments, online violence, inadequate infrastructure and specialized personnel, and fragmented data. The report proposes new commitments to address these issues, focusing on enhancing school security, improving reporting mechanisms, and combating online violence.
The proposed commitments also emphasize supporting families and encouraging children's participation in decision-making processes that affect them. Furthermore, the report recommends increasing resources dedicated to child protection and establishing a national integrated system for collecting data on violence against children. This system will include the creation of a national database on violence against children starting in 2027.
Minister Nassénéba Touré received the report and praised it as a product of Ivoirian institutions' expertise, community experience, and the aspirations of Côte d'Ivoire's children. She announced that she would submit the report and proposed new commitments to the government, ensuring that each commitment is assigned a responsible party, timeline, measurable indicators, and necessary resources.
Touré emphasized that protecting children involves a chain of responsibilities shared among the state, local authorities, communities, technical and financial partners, and the children themselves. UNICEF's resident representative in Côte d'Ivoire, Jean-François Basse, welcomed the progress made in strengthening the national child protection system and reaffirmed his organization's support.
The report and proposed commitments will be presented at the Manila conference, showcasing Côte d'Ivoire's efforts to prevent and combat violence against children. The country's presentation will highlight the results of the national review and new commitments aimed at enhancing child protection.
Key points
- The report proposes new commitments to address persistent challenges in eliminating violence against children.
- Côte d'Ivoire aims to present its report and new commitments at the Global Ministerial Conference in Manila.
- The government plans to establish a national database on violence against children by 2027.
