Intensifying Violations of Civil Liberties and Shrinking Civic Space in Burkina Faso

February 28, 2024

Ablassé Ouedraogo, ex-foreign minister and opposition leader of Le Faso Autrement, abducted from his Ouagadougou home on December 24, 2023, by alleged national police. [Image Credit: AFP via Getty Images]

Cited Article by Human Rights Watch

HRRC condemns the escalating human rights abuses, particularly enforced disappearances and arbitrary conscriptions, perpetrated by the military junta in Burkina Faso.

News Brief

The military junta in Burkina Faso is intensifying its crackdown on civil society activists and political opponents, leading to concerns of enforced disappearances. Since late November 2023, at least six activists and opposition members have been abducted in Ouagadougou, raising alarms about human rights abuses. The Burkinabé authorities are urged to take urgent measures to locate the missing individuals, cease abusive conscriptions, and hold those responsible for the abductions accountable.

Despite previous court rulings declaring the conscriptions unlawful and violating fundamental rights, the junta persists in using conscription as a tool to suppress dissent, instilling fear among activists, journalists, and civil society members and exacerbating the already shrinking civic space in the country. The crackdown comes amid a backdrop of increased insecurity in Burkina Faso, with the government justifying its actions under the guise of combating insurgency.