121. The Commission notes that through its grounds on the merits, the
Respondent State holds that the issue of statelessness has been or is being
resolved. To this effect, the Respondent State reports that a set of laws
necessary to arrive at valid conclusions have been adopted and to consider
their relevance and the extent to which they settle the issues raised by the
Complainant. First, the Respondent State invokes the United Nations
Conventions on Statelessness which was ratified on 13 September, 2013. As it
has concluded above, the Commission considers that the Ivorian nationality
code is not in keeping with the Conventions ratified by the Respondent State.
Better still, the said Conventions take precedence over Ivorian law and, with
Côte d’Ivoire being a monistic State, are immediately applied internally. The
same can be said that under the provisions of Article 3 of the Nationality
Code, « The provisions on nationality contained in the international treaties
and agreements duly ratified and gazetted shall apply even if they are
contrary to the provisions of the domestic Ivorian law ». The clarity of these
provisions requires no interpretation. Applicants for Ivorian nationality have
a legal claim, subject to reasonable acquisition requirements, when they do
not hold the nationality of any other State, and when the refusal to grant them
Ivorian nationality status would make them stateless. Furthermore, and as
this study looks beyond this situation, a distinction must be made between
the Dioulas and the others as well as the nationality categories and the related
advantages.
122. Secondly, for a judicious evaluation of the actions taken by the
Government of the Respondent State, it is indispensable to examine the
standards for the application of the Conventions on statelessness duly ratified
by Côte d’Ivoire in 2013. The Parties agree in effect on the consideration of all
the measures taken up to the date of submission of their respective
conclusions on the merits, without prejudice to the consideration of the
applications for reliefs for violations committed. As the Commission has
already observed, the relevant provisions of the Conventions on statelessness
and the related Directives are reference standards par excellence for the
implementation of the right to the recognition of the legal status guaranteed
by Article 5 of the Charter. To consider the grounds of the Respondent State,
which tends to lead to the conclusion that its reforms have resolved the issues
raised by this Communication, one must, therefore, compare the said reforms
with the previous observations of the Commission and the international
standards mentioned supra.
123. As an introductory overview to the evaluation of the reforms invoked by
the Respondent State, the Commission notes that between the date of its
submission and the consideration of the merits, the Government of Côte
d’Ivoire enacted two laws in 2004 to amend the provisions of the Nationality
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