Mass Dissolution of Civic Groups, Enforcement of Repressive Laws
Burkina Faso’s military government is intensifying its sweeping crackdown on civil society through restrictive legislation, administrative pressure, and punitive actions targeting domestic and international organizations, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organisation Against Torture within the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, and Observatoire KISAL said today. The military authorities should immediately end their repression of independent voices and humanitarian and human rights groups and uphold fundamental rights and freedoms.
On April 15, 2026, the minister of territorial administration and mobility announced the dissolution of 118 civil society organizations, many engaged in human rights work. The authorities cited a July 2025 law on freedom of association but did not provide any justification beyond vague allusions of noncompliance.
“The mass dissolution of civil society groups is the Burkina Faso junta’s latest effort to silence dissent and avoid scrutiny of its grim human rights record,” said Binta Sidibé Gascon, President of Observatoire KISAL. “The decision reinforces a climate of fear that is crippling independent civic activity.”
The military government’s action reflects a broader pattern of repression that began after the military seized power in September 2022. Ever since the takeover, the authorities have targeted nongovernmental organizations, independent media, and peaceful dissent, steadily narrowing civic space. They have suspended, banned, or expelled dozens of Burkinabè and international organizations and media outlets on vague administrative and spurious grounds or in retaliation for criticism.
The authorities have also detained humanitarian workers and arbitrarily arrested, forcibly disappeared, or unlawfully conscripted human rights activists, journalists, and political opponents. This escalating repression is unfolding amid a worsening security crisis, as Burkina Faso has been battling Islamist armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for a decade.
While some of the groups targeted by the dissolution measure were inactive, others—including Action by Christians Against Torture (Action des Chrétiens contre la Torture, ACAT), Burkinabè Coalition for Women’s Rights (Coalition Burkinabè pour les droits des femmes, CBDF)—were operational and appeared to meet the legal requirements under the July 2025 law. The law grants organizations one year to comply with these requirements, a deadline that has not yet expired.
“The military government’s action, if based on alleged noncompliance with the 2025 law, appears legally questionable since the required time frame has not yet ended,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The scale of the shutdown is one of the most significant blows to civil society groups since the military took power and sends a chilling message to everyone else.”
The July 2025 law, introduced by the authorities as a measure to regulate the nonprofit sector and combat money laundering and terrorism financing, has significantly expanded government control over civil society. It imposes burdensome requirements that constrain humanitarian and development work. Foreign organizations, for example, must appoint Burkinabè nationals to key leadership and financial positions, exposing them to personal risks. This concern has been compounded by a September 2025 family code provision allowing authorities to strip Burkinabè citizenship from anyone deemed to act against state interests, thus creating a risk of statelessness for the targeted individuals.
In early April 2026 the military government, in a response to a Human Rights Watch report on war crimes and crimes against humanity by all parties to the conflict in Burkina Faso since 2023, had threatened “firm measures” against what it called “imperialist labs disguised as NGOs (nongovernmental organizations).”
Towards the end of 2025, the authorities introduced additional administrative barriers. Organizations must now obtain a “statistical visa” before conducting surveys or research, a costly and time-consuming process that a humanitarian worker told Human Rights Watch, “impedes independent data collection and analysis in a context which is already extremely closed.”
During the past year, several international aid groups have been suspended or expelled, often for unclear procedural reasons. Between June and July 2025, the authorities suspended or revoked the licenses of about 20 foreign organizations, including Comunità di Sant’Egidio, Diakonia, Geneva Call, and the Tony Blair Institute, citing failure to formalize agreements with the state.
The military government’s repression has also extended to individuals who are members of domestic civil society and international organizations. Since 2022, the authorities have detained more than 70 humanitarian workers, most of them Burkinabè, according to international media. In a prominent case, the military authorities in August 2025 expelled the top United Nations representative in Burkina Faso, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, declaring her persona non grata following a UN report on violations against children in the country.
In another case, in mid-2025, security forces arbitrarily arrested and detained eight staff members of the International Group Safety Organization, a Netherlands-based humanitarian group specializing in humanitarian safety, finally releasing them in December 2025. The authorities charged them with spying and treason, accusing them of collecting and providing sensitive security information to foreign powers.
Military authorities have used provisions of an April 2023 “general mobilization” decree—a sweeping emergency law—selectively and disproportionately to crack down on the political opposition, the media and dissent, and to silence and unlawfully conscript into military service dozens of critics, journalists, civil society activists, and judicial personnel. The authorities assert that conscription is authorized under the decree, which gives the president extensive powers to combat the Islamist insurgency, including by requisitioning people and goods and curtailing civil liberties.
Between July and October 2025, at least six journalists and three activists who had been previously conscripted were released, while others who had been conscripted are still missing, including the prominent investigative journalist Serge Oulon, and more are feared to have been unlawfully conscripted.
International human rights law protects the rights to freedom of expression and association, allowing individuals and groups to operate without undue interference. Restrictions must be necessary, proportionate, and non-discriminatory, criteria that the recent sweeping dissolution of civil society groups and the July 2025 law do not meet, the three organizations said.
“A strong and independent civil society acts as a safeguard against abuses of power and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities,” said Drissa Traoré, FIDH Secretary General. “The Burkinabè authorities should enable civil society groups to work freely and uphold the fundamental rights and liberties of everyone in Burkina Faso.”
Credit: Human Rights Watch