The Burkinabe human rights movement MBDHP (Mouvement burkinabè des droits de l’homme et des peuples) regularly publishes reports on human rights in Burkina Faso. Here MBDHP draws attention to the brutal procedures inside the walls of police stations and the illegal situation of prisoners and complains about extrajudicial executions. The report points to the poor health and education levels in the country.
Together with the Center d’information et de formation en matière de droits humains en Afrique (CIFDHA) and the Association Semfilms, the MBDHP published a report on political and civil rights in July 2016in front. It called on the government of Burkina Faso to grant the judiciary more freedom, to combat torture and inhuman treatment and to use more means to counter the excesses of the Koglweogo militia group.
Amnesty International (ai) highlighted in its 2019 annual report that the draft constitution contains laws that can help protect human rights. There were allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in detention. The conditions in detention remained deplorable. Maternal mortality and early or forced marriages remained high. Armed groups (Kogleweogo militias) have committed human rights violations.
In January 2015, ai called in a special report for an investigation into the deadly use of force by the military against demonstrators during the popular uprising from October 30th to November 2nd, 2014. According to militarynous, in its world annual report 2014/15 ai already pointed to torture and police violence against prisoners with fatal results in Burkina Faso.
For several years, Amnesty has been pointing out the high maternal mortality rate in Burkina Faso and is trying to achieve an improvement by appealing to those responsible in the health authorities through more commitment and political determination. According to the 2018 report, there was no discernible improvement in the quality of maternal health services. However, progress would have been reported in the area of assumption of responsibility by medical staff.
Amnesty International awarded the title of Ambassadeurs de conscience 2016 to the Burkinabe civil rights organization Balai Citoyen. Balai Citoyen presented this award at a press conference. The spokesman Maître Kam said that the award had been humbly received and that it was being dedicated to the entire Burkinabe people.
Practices of the eviction of witches, genital mutilation and forced marriage are incompatible with universal human and women’s rights. These are everyday occurrences that have long since ceased to be taboo subjects. NGOs like ASFUD raise awareness of sexual self-determination and against violence in marriage.
In November 2012, serious cases of child labor in mines and cotton plantations became public. UNICEF reports on the exploitation of children in gold mines.
Corruption
The corruption is – together with impunity – the real cancer of Burkinabe society is On 03 March 2015 were of the transitional government. New laws passed that will facilitate a crackdown on corruption, bribery and money laundering. Politicians and high officials must now disclose their financial situation. Nevertheless, in its July 2015 corruption report, REN-LAC described the situation as alarming.
The unrest at the beginning of 2011 and the popular uprising in October 2014 should not least be seen against the background of the massive increase in corruption at all levels. It is an outpouring of a mentality of shadow legality, which is exemplified by politicians and functionaries through a culture of impunity and private enrichment and favors and which is becoming a cross-class normality. It is not public spirit and the law that determine action, but private “business”. Corruption “on a large scale”, which mainly involves the awarding of public contracts, has an incomparably different quality than everyday corruption “on a small scale”.
In November 2012 it was revealed that there were 6,000 bogus officers in the Burkina Faso state apparatus. In the Panamapapers machinations of the US Burkinabe pilot of Blaise Compaoré are exposed.
Burkina Faso has slipped further on the list of the Corruption Perceptions Index CPI 2019 and is currently ranked 85th out of 180.
The organization REN-LAC (Réseau National de la Lutte Anti-Corruption) combats corruption in Burkina Faso. It was founded in 1997 by around 20 civil society organizations. Ibrahim Sanogo, radio journalist at RTB and secretary for information and communication at REN-LAC emphasized in an interview that corruption is no longer a taboo subject in Burkina Faso. The main problem is the lack of sanctions against corruption, as the judiciary is too incompetent, the legal situation is insufficient and the entire judiciary itself is affected by corruption. Complained in June 2012REN-LAC that despite the loudly announced fight against corruption under the Prime Minister who was appointed after the unrest in April 2011, there were no signs of improvement. In particular, the non-governmental anti-corruption organization emphasizes irregularities in the measurement and allocation of land (“lotissement”) as well as impunity for corruption offenses that have already been discovered.
The Secretary General of REN-LAC Dr. Claude Wetta emphasized in an interview in May 2013 about the strategy of REN-LAC to want to fight corruption in administration and politics.
During the ” Journées nationales du refus de la corruption (JNRC)” (= nationwide conference on the rejection of corruption) in December 2013, he called for the creation of an anti-corruption pool in the court system and an implication of the fight against corruption in judicial training.
In his New Year’s Message 2014 Wetta expressed his great disappointment with the judiciary: the judiciary was motionless, dumb and unjust when it came to serious cases of corruption, flanked by non-deterring legislation.
