Burkina Faso’s military government dissolved 118 civil society organizations on April 15, 2026, citing noncompliance with a July 2025 law on freedom of association, though it provided no specific justification for the mass shutdown.
The minister of territorial administration and mobility announced the dissolutions, which targeted groups engaged in human rights, women’s rights, and humanitarian perform, including the Burkinabè Coalition for Women’s Rights and Action by Christians Against Torture, both of which were active and appeared to meet legal requirements under the 2025 law.
Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organisation Against Torture, and Observatoire KISAL condemned the move, stating the junta is using the law to silence dissent and avoid scrutiny of its human rights record since seizing power in September 2022.
Binta Sidibé Gascon, president of Observatoire KISAL, said the decision reinforces a climate of fear that is crippling independent civic activity, while Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, noted the scale of the shutdown is one of the most significant blows to civil society since the military takeover.
The July 2025 law, introduced by authorities to regulate the nonprofit sector and combat money laundering and terrorism financing, grants organizations one year to comply with burdensome requirements, including mandating that foreign groups appoint Burkinabè nationals to key leadership and financial positions—a provision that exposes individuals to personal risk.
This risk is heightened by a September 2025 family code provision allowing authorities to strip Burkinabè citizenship from anyone deemed to act against state interests, potentially creating statelessness for targeted individuals.
Since the 2022 coup, the military government has systematically narrowed civic space by suspending, banning, or expelling dozens of domestic and international organizations and media outlets on vague administrative grounds or in retaliation for criticism.
Humanitarian workers have been detained, activists forcibly disappeared or unlawfully conscripted, and journalists targeted under an April 2023 “general mobilization” decree that grants the president extensive powers to requisition people and goods and curtail civil liberties in the name of combating Islamist insurgency.
Between July and October 2025, at least six journalists and three activists previously conscripted were released, but others, including prominent investigative journalist Serge Oulon, remain missing and are feared to have been unlawfully conscripted.
In early April 2026, the military government threatened “firm measures” against what it called “imperialist labs disguised as NGOs” in response to a Human Rights Watch report alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity by all parties to the conflict since 2023.
Towards the end of 2025, authorities introduced a requirement for a “statistical visa” before conducting surveys or research, a costly and time-consuming process that humanitarian workers say impedes independent data collection in an already restricted environment.
Between June and July 2025, the licenses of about 20 foreign organizations were suspended or revoked, including Comunità di Sant’Egidio, Diakonia, Geneva Call, and the Tony Blair Institute, for allegedly failing to formalize agreements with the state.
In August 2025, the top United Nations representative in Burkina Faso, Carol Flore-Smereczniak, was expelled and declared persona non grata following a UN report on violations against children in the country.
In mid-2025, eight staff members of the Netherlands-based International Group Safety Organization were arbitrarily arrested and detained on charges of spying and treason, accused of collecting and providing sensitive security information to foreign powers. they were released in December 2025.
International human rights law protects the rights to freedom of expression and association, requiring restrictions to be necessary, proportionate, and non-discriminatory—criteria that the recent dissolutions and the 2025 law fail to meet, according to the four rights organizations.
Drissa Traoré, secretary general of FIDH, said a strong and independent civil society acts as a safeguard against abuses of power and amplifies the voices of marginalized communities, urging the Burkinabè authorities to enable civil society groups to work freely and uphold fundamental rights and liberties.
