The Committee on Enforced Disappearances today concluded its consideration of the initial report of Burkina Faso on additional information submitted under article 29 (4) of the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Committee Experts welcomed the State's capacity building efforts for forensic services, while asking questions on alleged enforced disappearances involving security forces and impunity for State agents.
Juan Pablo Alban Alencastro, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, welcomed the use of new technologies in search operations and cooperation with the European Union in capacity building for forensic services. The location of certain disappeared persons was also welcome.
Matar Diop, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said there were serious allegations of enforced disappearance involving security and defence forces. How many disappearances could be attributed to security and defence forces?
Mr. Diop noted that before arresting intelligence agents to interrogate them regarding alleged violations, judicial police officers required authorisation from the intelligence agency. Legislation provided a certain degree of impunity for intelligence agents and security forces for acts carried out in the course of their duties. Could such acts include enforced disappearance?
Introducing the report, Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Burkina Faso and head of the delegation, said the resurgence of terrorist attacks, humanitarian and health crises, and political and institutional instability had strongly affected the realisation of human rights in general, and the implementation of the Convention in Burkina Faso. However, several pieces of legislation had been adopted that contributed to strengthening protection against enforced disappearances. The Criminal Code provided a definition of the crime of enforced disappearance in line with the Convention. Offenders were sentenced to life imprisonment if the offender abducted, arrested or detained another person.
The delegation said Burkina Faso had judicial police units that led inquiries into enforced disappearance. In 2020, the central brigade for cybercrime was created; 26 women and 10 officials who had been abducted in one region had been found thanks to the efforts of authorities. Through cooperation with the European Union, training, equipment and software had been provided to forensic doctors across the country to strengthen their capacities. Four billion CFA francs had been invested in increasing capacity.
The security forces were governed by the Penal Code and the military courts, the delegation noted. If they committed criminal offences, they were held criminally liable. If officials were the subject of a complaint, the State appointed investigators from a different part of the country to carry out the investigation. Military prosecutors had detained 12 members of the Volunteer Defence Forces related to accusations of human rights violations.
The delegation added that legislation on intelligence services could not be used to permit enforced disappearance. State agents needed to prove that the acts in question had been made in legitimate self-defence in courts. There was no immunity or impunity for State agents.
In concluding remarks, Mr. Bayala said Burkina Faso was deeply committed to its obligations under the Convention to protect against enforced disappearance and to respect human rights. The State party would carefully analyse the Committee's concluding observations and would consolidate its cooperation with the Committee. The international community needed to help Burkina Faso to combat terrorism and strengthen protections for the population from enforced disappearance.
Olivier De Frouville, Committee Chair, in concluding remarks, said the Committee was mindful both of the security situation in Burkina Faso and its obligations to protect against enforced disappearance. The joint goal of the Committee and the State party was to ensure the implementation of the Convention in Burkina Faso. The Committee would continue to support the State party in this regard.
The delegation of Burkina Faso consisted of the Special Adviser to the President on Legal Affairs and representatives of the Ministry of Justice; Inter-Ministerial Committee on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law; Volunteer Brigade for the Defence of the Homeland; Directorate of Partnership and Monitoring of International Agreements; Directorate of Criminal Justice and Seals; Directorate of Communication and Press Relations; Monitoring Department for International Agreements on Civil and Political Rights; Judicial Police; General Directorate of the Penitentiary Security Guard; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will issue its concluding observations on the report of Burkina Faso at the end of its twenty-sixth session, which concludes on 1 March. Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, while webcasts of the public meetings can be found here. The programme of work of the Committee's twenty-sixth session and other documents related to the session can be found here.
The Committee will next meet in public on Monday, 26 February at 3 p.m. to consider the initial report of Honduras on additional information submitted under article 29 (4) of the Convention ( CED/C/HND/AI/1 ).
Report
The Committee has before it Burkina Faso's initial report on additional information submitted under article 29 (4) of the Convention ( CED/C/BFA/AI/1 ).
Presentation of Report
EDASSO RODRIGUE BAYALA, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Burkina Faso and head of the delegation, said Burkina Faso was determined to protect all persons living on its territory from enforced disappearance and to take appropriate measures to prevent, investigate and punish crimes of enforced disappearances. The report reflected the measures taken by Burkina Faso to implement the provisions of the Convention as well as previous recommendations from the Committee.
The resurgence of terrorist attacks, humanitarian and health crises, and political and institutional instability had strongly affected the realisation of human rights in general, and the implementation of the Convention. However, Burkina Faso had made progress in implementing the Committee's recommendations. Several pieces of legislation had been adopted that contributed to strengthening protection against enforced disappearances. The Criminal Code provided a definition of the crime of enforced disappearance in line with the Convention, punishing the offence with a prison sentence of 20 to 30 years and a fine of up to 20,000,000 CFA francs. Offenders were sentenced to life imprisonment if the offender abducted, arrested or detained another person.
To strengthen the institutional framework for the prohibition of enforced disappearance, the Government had created the National Human Rights Commission in accordance with the Paris Principles; the special brigade for the investigation of anti-terrorism and the fight against organised crime; the central cybercrime brigade; and specialised judicial units for the suppression of economic and financial crimes, organised crime, and acts of terrorism. In February 2023, the Code of Military Justice was amended to deploy units responsible for recording human rights violations.
Burkina Faso had increased the number of staff of the National Human Rights Commission from 31 in December 2021 to 59 in January 2024, and increased its budget to 613,682,000 CFA francs over the same period. In 2023, the State party set up a framework and body for consultation, monitoring and early warning of cases of alleged human rights violations and abuses, including in the context of terrorism. Some 312 supervisors and 21,500 Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland had so far been trained on the integration of human rights into their actions in the fight against terrorism. Ten agents of the State judicial agency and 85 lawyers were also trained on the promotion and protection of human rights. In trials of terrorism cases in the second half of 2023, 51 people were convicted and 31 acquitted.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso had faced terrorist attacks across the country. Terrorist groups were involved in attacks targeting civilian populations as well as national armed forces, internal security forces, and Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland. These terrorists regularly carried out kidnappings and even assassinations. The Government had in April 2023 introduced legislation authorising the Government to take exceptional measures that were necessary in the name of national security. Anyone over the age of 18 who was physically fit could be called upon to enlist in the counter-terrorism effort.
When the Government became aware of cases of alleged enforced disappearances, the competent prosecuting authorities systematically opened judicial, administrative and social investigations. Competent authorities were required to take measures to ensure the protection of complainants and witnesses against all forms of reprisals. Victims had the right to fair and adequate reparation and compensation. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of enforced disappearance, torture or similar practices, the victim's beneficiaries were entitled to compensation. The State had an obligation to provide reparation to victims. Secret detention was prohibited by the Criminal Code.
Burkina Faso provided a specific legal framework for human rights defenders to enable them to carry out their activities in better conditions. To this end, the law of 2017 on the protection of human rights defenders was adopted. The Constitution stipulated the State's obligation to guarantee the protection of human rights defenders against arbitrary searches and intrusions.
Efforts had been made to enable all persons under the State's jurisdiction to fully enjoy the rights guaranteed in the Convention. Burkina Faso was aware that shortcomings and challenges remained in the prevention and punishment of acts of enforced disappearance. Burkina Faso would spare no effort to address the shortcomings and challenges it faced, in collaboration with the international community.
Questions by Committee Experts
What measures were in place to bolster the capacity of State institutions responsible for investigating enforced disappearance, so that they could conduct timely field investigations? What results had been achieved by field investigations? What resources had been allocated to such institutions? What measures were in place to ensure that families of victims had access to investigation files and were informed on progress in searches? What measures would the State party take to ensure a differentiated approach to investigations of cases involving women, children and persons of different ethnicities?
MATAR DIOP, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said the high-level delegation reflected Burkina Faso's commitment to honouring its international obligations. There was evidence of a pattern of enforced disappearances in the State against certain ethnic groups, particularly the Pearl ethnic group. What proportion of disappearances concerned this ethnic group? Had investigations into disappearances of this type been conducted, and if so, what were their findings? Did these disappearances occur in a specific geographic region? Why was disappearance of this group common? There had been a mass exodus of the Pearl people into neighbouring States due to the human rights violations they faced. How was the State party preventing internal displacement and exodus to other States, and enforced disappearance of members of the Pearl ethnic group?
There were serious allegations of enforced disappearance involving security and defence forces. How many disappearances could be attributed to security and defence forces? Had there been changes in enforced disappearance following the establishment of the state of emergency? Which regions of the country were particularly affected by enforced disappearance? Did the State party have a register of victims of enforced disappearance that was accessible to family members? What measures were in place to release victims of enforced disappearance, locate their remains, and return them to their family members? Which State agencies were tasked with conducting searches and identifying remains, and what funding did they receive? How did the State party ensure that searches continued until the victim was located? How many victims had been identified?
The delegation said Burkina Faso was committed to combatting enforced disappearances. Since 2015, Burkina Faso had been facing a rise in terrorist attacks. The term "armed conflict" was not appropriate for the State's situation, as it was terrorists and not State-led armed groups that were carrying out attacks. Terrorists often abducted civilians and were responsible for killings. There were no statistics available on the abductions. Complaints of abductions were systematically investigated. Investigations were currently underway related to 150 allegedly disappeared persons. The Prosecution Service conducted investigations. The State had records of 190 cases of enforced disappearances carried out by terrorist groups.
There were some allegations of enforced disappearances attributed to the armed forces and the Volunteer Defence Force. These were considered as secret detentions or arbitrary detentions by some civil society organizations. However, the disappeared persons in most of these cases were terrorists, not civilians. The Volunteer Defence Force defended and protected civilians under the oversight of the national security forces. Volunteers did not participate in arrests. Many terrorists did not have identification papers on them at the time of their arrest. This made it difficult to inform family members of the arrest. Collective burials of terrorists were erroneously deemed to be enforced disappearances. Terrorists often forced civilians to dig their own graves and then summarily executed them. It was difficult to identify these individuals.
Burkina Faso had judicial police units that led inquiries into enforced disappearance. In 2020, the central brigade for cybercrime was created. This brigade analysed global positioning system data on disappeared persons to assist investigations; 26 women and 10 officials who had been abducted in one region had been found thanks to the efforts of authorities. Iranian and American civilians who had been abducted had also been found. Security and defence forces were involved in searches, as were medical personnel. Training on upholding human rights had been carried out for judicial police units who investigated enforced disappearance. Trials were held in military courts on cases of alleged terrorist acts on a regular basis. Through cooperation with the European Union, training, equipment and software had been provided to forensic doctors across the country to strengthen their capacities. Four billion CFA francs had been invested in increasing capacity.
Counter-terrorism operations did not have any ethnic aspects. The operations were conducted professionally and with respect for human rights. Defence forces and volunteer forces did not target specific ethnic groups. The Pearl ethnic group was the primary victim of terrorist attacks, which occurred in almost all regions of the country. The State party had not taken specific measures to protect the Pearl group; it sought to protect all ethnic groups from terrorists.
During attacks on security forces by terrorists, some members of security forces were abducted and some of their remains were subsequently found. Military forces exerted efforts to locate abductees. Forensic doctors carried out autopsies and biometric analyses to identify remains. In 2023 and 2024, 163 corpses belonging to security forces had been found. Burkina Faso took DNA samples from family members to help identify the corpses.
The Government had worked to strengthen legal mechanisms to protect civilians. Two working groups had been set up to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed by State agents in the context of counter-terrorism operations.
Questions by Committee Experts
Committee Experts asked follow-up questions on how the State defined conflict between State armed forces and Islamist groups; whether the ongoing investigations into enforced disappearances were cases involving disappearances of security force personnel or civilians; whether security forces provided information about detentions to next-of-kin; the State's position on reports that the Volunteer Defence Forces were carrying out detentions; the number of disappeared persons found alive and the number of remains identified; measures for ensuring independent investigations of cases of enforced disappearance allegedly perpetrated by State actors; the State party's position on 268 reported disappearances of members of the Pearl ethnic group in 2023; and the number of undocumented corpses found by the State, including the number of civilian corpses, and methods of identifying civilian corpses.
Experts also asked questions on the capacity of the criminal investigation police to carry out the large volume of required investigations and efforts to set up supporting structures for the existing legal system; the possibility of determining the "absence" of civilians in civil procedures; steps taken to find well-known former Government officials, officers and human rights defenders who were reportedly disappeared; whether the Volunteer Defence Forces used weapons and received military training; whether trials of terrorists occurred in military or civilian courts; efforts to implement post-mortem examinations to identify persons who had been exhumed; and whether immunity was granted to security forces in cases of enforced disappearance.
JUAN PABLO ALBAN ALENCASTRO, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, welcomed the use of new technologies in search operations and cooperation with the European Union in capacity building for forensic services. The location of certain disappeared persons was also welcome.
The delegation said most terrorist fighters came from the civilian population. Burkina Faso was tackling terrorist attacks in accordance with its legislation and counter-terrorism policies. The conventional legal system could not tackle the phenomenon; this was why the anti-terrorist brigade was set up.
The intelligence service set up in 2017 was responsible for overseeing investigations into enforced disappearances. The decree on general mobilisation called on all young people to join the fight against terrorism. Searches of the high-profile public officials mentioned were not arbitrary and respected the rights enshrined in the State's Constitution.
The security forces were governed by the Penal Code and the military courts. If they committed criminal offences, they were held criminally liable. The security forces were not sufficient in number to cover the whole country. Volunteer Defence Forces were trained to use weapons and respect human rights as part of military training. Volunteer Defence Forces stayed within their communities and took steps to alert security forces of human rights violations. These forces always acted under the supervision of members of the armed forces.
Eighty investigations concerning the disappearance of around 150 civilians had been launched. All the women mentioned who were disappeared from a certain region and the disappeared foreign nationals were found alive. The Prosecutor Service and next-of-kin could initiate civil proceedings to determine the legal status of missing persons. After one year of initial notification to the courts, courts could declare persons as missing, allowing next-of-kin to access the person's property. After 10 years of proceedings, if the person had not been found, the court would declare the person dead.
Members of the armed forces could be the subject of investigations by the Prosecution Service of the High Courts. If officials were the subject of a complaint, the State appointed investigators from a different part of the country to carry out the investigation. The Government could not intervene in any prosecutions. Military prosecutors had detained 12 members of the Volunteer Defence Forces related to accusations of human rights violations. Around 190 members of security forces were considered disappeared following terrorist attacks. Around 160 corpses of security forces had been located, and the Government was working to identify them.
Terrorists did not belong to a single ethnic group or religion. Prior to 2023, no region was spared from terrorist attacks. Disappearances of all ethnic groups needed to be addressed. There was no ethnic component to counter-terrorism operations in Burkina Faso.
Questions by Committee Experts
JUAN PABLO ALBAN ALENCASTRO, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, asked about measures taken to ensure differentiated care for victims of enforced disappearance, including family members and next-of-kin? Which State entities aided family members? What staff and funding were available to these institutions? How did the State party support access to social protection, property rights, and search and reparation files for victims' family members? What measures would the State party take to establish legislation and policy on reparations? What reparations were granted to victims in cases of enforced disappearance and how many victims had benefited? What was the role of the National Human Rights Commission in supporting victims? Staffing and funding had been increased considerably in 2022. Was funding now sufficient for the Commission to support victims of enforced disappearance?
What measures were in place to protect human rights defenders, particularly individuals and associations working on cases of enforced disappearance? How had the State party implemented the law on the protection of human rights defenders? What safeguards were provided to individuals who submitted information to United Nations entities? What protection from reprisals was provided to journalists who covered cases of enforced disappearance? How did the State protect victims' family members from possible attacks and allow them to participate in investigations? Which State entities assessed threats to people involved in investigations, and what funding was provided for risk analysis and protection measures?
The activities of terrorists had led to many enforced disappearances. Did the State consider these acts to be crimes against humanity? There were reports of the existence of mass graves. What measures had the State party taken to recover and identify remains in mass graves? Were search and investigation procedures suspended when courts declared a person to be dead?
MATAR DIOP, Committee Expert and Country Co-Rapporteur, said the Committee welcomed the criminalisation of enforced disappearance as a stand-alone crime in Burkina Faso in 2018. The declaration of absence should not halt State investigations. Did legislation ensure this?
Before arresting intelligence agents to interrogate them regarding alleged violations, judicial police officers required authorisation from the intelligence agency. Legislation provided a certain degree of impunity for intelligence agents and security forces for acts carried out in the course of their duties. Could such acts include enforced disappearance?
Would the State party recognise the Committee's competence for receiving individual and inter-State complaints? What was the status of deliberations in this regard?
A Committee Expert asked how the State party would meet its commitments made in last year's Universal Periodic Review to put a stop to enforced disappearances carried out by State security forces. The military justice system seemed to be responsible for prosecuting such cases of enforced disappearances, not the ordinary justice system. Why was this? Was the military justice system investigating the 2024 case of the alleged murder of seven civilians by security forces? Why were such crimes falling under the jurisdiction of the military justice system?
The delegation said that mechanisms had been established to provide differentiated care to family members of victims of enforced disappearance. The Family and Persons Code defined the absence of a person. Prosecutors initiated civil cases to recognise absent persons. Courts could also declare deaths and issue death certificates. This allowed relatives to benefit from compensation. Measures were also in place to prevent reprisals against victims' families, including the witness protection programme.
Various ministries and the National Human Rights Commission provided support for victims of terrorist attacks, including psychological support, legal aid, schooling, health care, and employment support for women and girls. Services were being decentralised to meet victims' needs effectively. The Government planned to develop a strategy to better address the needs of victims of terrorism. Measures had recently been taken to remove victims from the streets and resettle them; 300 people had been resettled recently.
The Criminal Code stipulated that victims and next-of-kin of deceased victims of human rights violations such as enforced disappearance had the right to fair and adequate reparations, including compensation and rehabilitation. The Criminal Code also recognised that civil proceedings regarding damages could be brought at the same time as public criminal actions. Relatives of civil servants and security forces who had died were entitled to 10 million CFA francs in compensation; relatives of Volunteer Forces who had died were entitled to three million. Relatives of civilians who had disappeared could also request compensation. Wards of the State were provided with free schooling and transport, as well as vocational training and psychological support. Burials of the deceased were free of charge.
The legal aid fund allowed persons who could not afford a lawyer to have access to legal aid. Over 4,000 people had benefitted from this fund, including victims of enforced disappearance. Heirs of victims of various political crises were represented by an association which set out proposals for compensation payments. Four education and social promotion centres had been set up for survivors of deceased members of security forces. These centres provided training and payments to ensure survivors' economic subsistence and integration into society.
The State had worked to strengthen legal and institutional frameworks protecting human rights defenders. In 2017, a law on the protection of human rights defenders was adopted. The law established a protection mechanism that was triggered whenever a human rights defender was threatened. The National Human Rights Commission had a handbook on supporting the activities of human rights defenders, and the Ministry of Human Rights provided funding to strengthen non-governmental organizations' activities and capacities to defend people's rights. Civil society organizations followed up on the implementation of recommendations of treaty bodies and helped to draft State party reports to the treaty body system.
In 2017, a counter-terrorism unit was established. The unit prosecuted, tried and convicted perpetrators of terrorist activities. Over 30 cases involving terrorism were tried in 2023. No terrorist crimes had been determined yet to be crimes against humanity.
There was no impunity for intelligence officers. Only acts committed in legitimate self-defence were not criminalised. Agents needed to demonstrate the need to commit acts as part of their duties to benefit from legal immunity.
The National Human Rights Commission had "A" status under the Paris Principles. It promoted and protected human rights defenders. The Commission was the national preventive mechanism against torture, and it regularly inspected places of deprivation of liberty. The Commission worked to tackle violations of human rights across the country. The Ministry of Human Rights planned to set up support centres across the country that would allow individuals to lodge complaints related to human rights violations and seek reparation from the State.
Military courts were competent only in cases of disappearance committed by armed forces in the exercise of their duties. When military officers committed offences against common law, the Penal Code was used to prosecute those officers. The Military Code was only used for offences classified as military offences. Military judges had the same training as judges in civil courts. Appeal courts were overseen solely by civil judges.
Questions by Committee Experts
Committee Experts asked follow-up questions on the number of civilian victims of enforced disappearance and family members who had received support; non-economic reparation and guarantees of non-repetition provided to victims' families; the circumstances in which the mechanism for protecting human rights defenders had been triggered; the necessity of recruiting citizens who did not want to sign up to the armed forces; the process used to appoint military judges and means of guaranteeing the independence and impartiality of military judges; the justification for the decree of June 2021, which stated that members of security forces could enjoy impunity in carrying out their duties; the party responsible for paying reparations to families of victims in cases of violations by State actors; and the reason for the State party's hesitation to define terrorist acts as "crimes against humanity".
Questions were also asked on measures to provide compensation to victims without ending investigation processes for disappeared persons; gender-differentiated approaches in searches for disappeared persons and reparations; efforts to distinguish between persons who had gone missing and victims of enforced disappearance; the possibility of considering enforced disappearance as a "necessary act" in the context of counter-terrorism operations; reasons for using military courts to assess violations of the Criminal Code by security forces; and measures to prevent the arbitrary use of force by security forces.
Responses by the Delegation
The delegation said the legislation on intelligence services could not be used to permit enforced disappearance. Responsible officers needed to be informed about the acts of their staff. State agents needed to prove that the acts in question had been made in legitimate self-defence in courts. There was no immunity or impunity for State agents.
Citizens were obliged under the Constitution to serve the nation. However, conscriptions could be appealed before courts and there were cases in which conscriptions were suspended.
Legislation on military prosecution provided military court judges with independence. Such judges could not be held accountable by their superiors for cases they had dealt with. The Ministry of Defence ensured that judges were not subject to reprimand. All decisions made by military judges could be appealed in the civil Court of Cassation.
When State agents were prosecuted, the State was liable for paying reparations. The agents involved could also be fined for wilful violations. The State party had no information about alleged mass graves of civilians that State agents were involved in. There could be isolated cases in which civilians became victims of State agents' actions, but in those cases, the State paid reparations.
In one case in 2023, a human rights defender felt he was being stalked. This person informed the Government, which passed on an alert to the relevant bodies, which assessed the threat to the human rights defender and provided security protection. This person thanked the Government for the measures it had implemented to protect their safety.
Burkina Faso took measures to care for victims of terrorism and for family members of persons presumed to have disappeared. The State provided targeted reparations based on the needs of each victim, including schooling support for child victims and housing for victims who were homeless. A database of victims of terrorism, including victims of enforced disappearance, was being set up to inform efforts to improve support services.
Consultations were organised in 2018 on accepting the Committee's competence to receive individual and inter-State communications. Consultations were continuing. The State aimed to achieve a consensus on accepting the Committee's competence.
Special courts ruled on cases involving terrorism. These courts were not competent to assess cases of crimes against humanity. Civil judges could conclude that persons had disappeared to allow victims' family members to obtain compensation. Civil compensation orders did not bring about an end to criminal hearings.
Concluding Remarks
EDASSO RODRIGUE BAYALA, Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Burkina Faso and head of the delegation, thanked the Committee for the constructive dialogue and all those who contributed to facilitating the dialogue. Burkina Faso was deeply committed to its obligations under the Convention to protect against enforced disappearance and to respect human rights. The State party would carefully analyse the Committee's concluding observations and would consolidate its cooperation with the Committee. Challenges to implementing the Convention were significant considering the security situation in Burkina Faso, which was marked by terrorism. The international community needed to help Burkina Faso to combat terrorism and strengthen protections for the population from enforced disappearance.
OLIVIER DE FROUVILLE, Committee Chair, expressed thanks for the delegation's constructive answers to the Committee's questions throughout the dialogue. The Committee was mindful both of the security situation in Burkina Faso and its obligations to protect against enforced disappearance. The joint goal of the Committee and the State party was to ensure the implementation of the Convention in Burkina Faso. The Committee would continue to support the State party in this regard.
