A/HRC/26/52 III. Proposed programme of action for assistance to victims of the Ivorian crisis A. Background 44. In order to promote victim-centred national reconciliation and efforts to combat impunity, the Independent Expert organized an international conference on the situation of the victims of the Ivorian crisis, held in Abidjan from 12 to 14 February 2014. Amid political polarization and a stalled political dialogue, the conference addressed the urgent need to highlight the situation of victims as a national cause that transcends the political and partisan divides that have long fuelled the Ivorian crisis. The goal was to remove the cloak of invisibility and silence from victims and to give the various actors of the crisis — including political parties and civil society — the opportunity to share their solutions to the situation of victims. Through a comparative approach, participants also learned about victim assistance policies that have been used in other African and South American countries that have experienced similar crises. 45. The event followed the conference on impunity and equitable justice in Côte d’Ivoire, held at the initiative of the Independent Expert in Yamoussoukro in February 2013. In his report to the Human Rights Council following the conference, he recommended that the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission “[e]mphasize the central importance of victims’ situation and expectations and encourage the provision of material, social, psychological, medical and legal support for them” (A/HRC/23/38, para. 88 (g)). Thus, the conference on the situation of the victims of the Ivorian crisis fulfilled many of the earlier recommendations made by the 2004 and 2011 international commissions of inquiry and by the Independent Expert himself. 46. Various State entities took part in the conference, including the Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education and Technical Education, the Ministry for Solidarity, the Family, Women and Children, the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, the Ministry of Planning and Development, the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, the special investigation unit, members of the judiciary, the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Authority, the National Programme for Social Cohesion, the Solidarity and Social Cohesion Observatory and the Directorate for War Victims. The conference also brought together representatives of political parties (Front Populaire Ivoirien, Liberté et Démocratie pour la République and Rassemblement des Républicains de Côte d’Ivoire), civil society, international organizations, United Nations institutions and international experts. Victims’ associations actively guided and informed the discussions. 47. The speakers analysed the situation of victims, assessed State efforts and suggested possible solutions, providing the Independent Expert with a basis from which he was able to put forward a series of recommendations to inform and promote a national assistance programme for victims of the crisis. B. 1. Ethical and legal basis for providing victims with reparation Ethical basis 48. It is the State’s duty to ensure that all perpetrators of human rights violations committed in its territory are brought to justice. Its sovereignty is closely linked to its ability to institute the rule of law, grounded partly in an effective, fair and impartial justice system. State responsibility in terms of the reparation of human rights violations is based on 10 GE.14-02949