Following a period of conflict[1], Côte d'Ivoire has recently experienced strong economic growth. However, the country continues to grapple with socio-economic inequality, continuing efforts to consolidate democratic institutions and the use of criminal law to suppress dissent. While the Constitution promotes access to housing and employment, at both national and subnational levels, there are laws that penalise attempts to survive poverty.

Below are the relevant extracts of select by-laws taken from across relevant communes in Côte d'Ivoire (with approximately 16 million people residing within them, combined).

TYPES OF LAWS

• Nuisance-related: Article 227 of the Law No. 2023-900 of 23 November 2023 (the new Environmental code of Cote d’lvoire) criminalises “anyone who urinates or defecates in a public place or any other inappropriate place”. This crime is punishable by a fine of 10,000 to 500,000 CFA francs or they can be required to clean the premises.
• Vagrancy: Vagrancy is no longer an offense. Under article 189 of the 1981 penal code vagrancy was criminalised.
• Begging: In Côte d’Ivoire, Begging in itself is no longer a criminal offence under the national Penal Code. Begging in a threatening or violent manner or with weapons is however, punishable under the national law (Law No. 2019-574 of June 26, 2019, see articles 217-219) with the sanction of two to five years of imprisonment. At the subnational level, begging is criminalised in the Autonomous District of Abidjan since April 2, 2024, and in the city of Niakara since February 2, 2025. Begging is repressed under the guise of combating urban disorder through strict regulation of public space.
• Informal economic activity: Sex workers are not directly penalised, however, soliciting can be prosecuted under provisions related to pimping and incitement to sex work. See: the 2019 Penal code of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, article 361. Imprisonment ranges from 15 days to 3 months. Under Ordinance No 2013-662 of September 2013, informal selling in a public space without the requisite authority is also prohibited.

[1] Since independence from France in 1960, the country has faced two civil wars and multiple electoral crises

Penalties range from fines (100- 10 million CFA francs) to imprisonment (ranging from 15 days[1] to 2 years[2] or 5 years[3]). Individuals unable to pay fines or access effective and free legal representation are routinely subjected to detention.

[1] The penalty for soliciting sex work can be imprisonment from 15 days to 3 months

[2] Any Act offending public decency or the moral sensibilities of person involuntarily witnessing it and likely to disturb public order is punishable by imprisonment raging from 3 months to 2 years (Penal Code of the Republic of Cote d Ivoire Art 416)

[3] When a person who is begging is found in procession of a weapon or any instrument suitable for committing theft or any other offences or for breaking into homes, they face a prison sentence of 2 to 5 years.

Although there have been legislative reforms, poverty continues to be criminalised through punitive fines, arrests and arbitrary detention. This is enabled by overly broad legal provisions, and the selective application of new laws targeting individuals or groups perceived as threats to public order or outsiders. Municipal Police are tasked with enforcing local ordinances such as those relating to sanitation, noise, street vending, traffic management, regulating informal economic activities, and maintaining order during municipal events.

• Research has indicated that women and children are particularly vulnerable to living in poverty and having to resort to petty crimes in order to survive. In Côte d’Ivoire, 19.6% of women surveyed in the 2022 report Vivre l’enfer(mement) were incarcerated for illegal possession of drugs.
• Homosexuality is not a criminal offence in Cote d’Ivoire, however, same-sex activity is subject to prosecution as public indecency, which carries a penalty of two years imprisonment.
• Market and street vendors, women, mini-bus drivers and homeless persons frequently experience harassment, extortion, inhumane treatment, and unofficial sanctions such as the imposition of bribes by law enforcement officers. Those who cannot afford to pay fines face the risk of arbitrary detention.

Under the Ivorian criminal justice system, a contravention (minor offence) can technically be punished by a prison term and/or a fine. In practice, pre-trial detention is systematically used for petty offenses, largely because targeted individuals lack the resources to pay fines or access adequate legal defence.

There have been key progressive regional judgments at the ECOWAS level, with implications for Côte d'Ivoire.

Advocaid Ltd v Republic of Sierra Leone : Advocaid approached the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice to challenge Sierra Leone’s discriminatory loitering laws. These laws provide the police with unfettered discretion to arrest any person without a warrant who is idle in a public place and cannot give a good account of himself. These laws unjustly target the poor and vulnerable while violating their fundamental human rights. The Court pointed out that by their very nature vagrancy laws target individuals who appear to have no visible means of subsistence. Rather than criminalising a specific criminal act, the laws target the status of individuals who invariably happen to be poor or underprivileged (para 55).

The Court ruled that Sierra Leone’s loitering laws violate the rights to equality, non-discrimination, and freedom of movement, disproportionately impacting marginalised individuals. The Court ordered Sierra Leone to amend or repeal these laws, emphasising the need for legislation that protects all citizens from arbitrary arrests and abuse (para 91).

While national in its scope, this judgement echoes the African Court’s Advisory Opinion, which pointed out that vagrancy-related laws violate the rights and freedoms of the poor and marginalised, and are incompatible with the free exercise of inalienable human rights by all. The ruling further encourages countries (such as Côte d'Ivoire) to review and reform colonial-era laws that criminalise poverty and attempts to survive poverty.

Njemanze and Ors vs Federal Republic of Nigeria: four women were arrested because the authorities believed that they were sex workers, who are considered as ‘idle persons’ under Nigerian criminal law. The Court found that the arrest and sexual violence that the four women had experienced violated, among others, their rights to be free from discrimination, to liberty and security and to access to justice and equal protection of the law.

The Court emphasised that police raids targeting women discriminate against women on the grounds of gender as:

“This systematic sting operation directed against only the female gender furnishes evidence of discrimination. There is an obligation placed on State Parties to the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to adopt laws, administrative and Policy measures to prevent gender- based discrimination…there is no law that suggest[s] that when women are seen on the streets at midnight or anytime thereafter, they are necessarily idle persons or prostitutes. If it were so, it ought to apply to all persons irrespective of sex”. (Page 38 of the judgment)

The case underscores the dangers of criminalising poverty and attempts to survive poverty, where police and security forces abuse power under the guise of enforcing morality laws. It also emphasises the gender-based discrimination that women often experience at the hands of law enforcement. Overall, regional jurisprudence demonstrates a growing recognition that criminalising poverty creates a breeding ground for police abuse and discrimination and is incompatible with international law.

After several decades of a punitive approach towards drug use, Côte d’Ivoire moved towards a new paradigm since introducing Law No. 2022-407. This law redefines drug use as a public health issue. While there is still the provision of imprisonment (consumption of narcotic substances can lead to up to 3 months’ imprisonment) therapeutic interventions are now provided as alternatives to incarceration.

In 2019, Côte d’Ivoire decriminalised begging and vagrancy. This reform marked a departure from punitive colonial-era laws and aligned with international human rights standards. However, in spite of these changes, local and national authorities continue to repress street begging, particularly in urban centres like Abidjan.

• Civil society groups such as L’Action de Chretiens pour l’abolition de la torture (ACAT) have organised study days and workshops on detention and related justice issues that intersect with the criminalisation of poverty. For example on 7 March 2023, ACAT, FIACAT and partners held a seminar in Abidjan on detention practices.
• An August 2025 publication on petty offences includes a discussion on how laws criminalising status and poverty are enforced in Côte d'Ivoire.

• Annual Convening for the Global Campaign to Decriminalise Poverty and Status Theme: Decriminalising status and activism
• Report on Petty offences and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment
• Côte d’Ivoire: women and children in prison
• Comparative study and findings on the impact of criminal, security and other exceptional laws and policies in select Francophone and Lusophone countries (Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire & Mozambique)
• ‘Présume e innocent: étude sur la detention préventive en côte d’ivoire’ (“Presumed Innocent: A study on Preventative detention in Cote d’Ivoire”.