Burkina Faso faces forced disappearances of human rights defenders

bfa 002 / 0525 / obs 022
Forced disappearance
Burkina Faso
May 2, 2025

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), urges immediate action regarding the situation in Burkina Faso.

alarming circumstances surrounding two activists

The Observatory has received reports of the kidnapping and forced disappearance of Amadou Sawadogo, a regional coordinator for the civic movement “Balai citoyen” in central Burkina Faso, and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, a sociologist and executive secretary of the same organization. Founded on August 25, 2013, Balai citoyen envisions “building a just and honorable Burkina Faso within a democratic rule of law.”

chronology of events

On March 20, 2025, Amadou Sawadogo was summoned to the regional state security service in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital. The summons came after his critical posts on Facebook, where he was interrogated and forced to disclose the addresses of two other activists who have since gone into hiding. The following day, March 21, 2025, after attending a second summons to the same service, he vanished without a trace, with authorities providing no explanations or information on his whereabouts.

On March 30, 2025, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé was abducted around 11:45 AM in front of his home in the Karpala neighborhood of Ouagadougou. The incident occurred shortly after his return from Cotonou, Bénin, where he participated in the first edition of the activism school organized by the Innovation for Democracy Foundation from March 24 to 28, 2025. Armed men identifying themselves as gendarmes seized him in front of his wife. Despite repeated efforts by lawyers to obtain information from public institutions, no details about his fate have been disclosed.

ongoing crisis and systematic repression

As of the publication of this Urgent Appeal, the fate and whereabouts of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé remain unknown. Their families and colleagues have received no updates. The Observatory notes that other members of Balai citoyen have previously faced unlawful arrests.

Lawyer and human rights defender Guy Hervé Kam, a co-founder of Balai citoyen, was arrested on January 24, 2024, at Ouagadougou International Airport upon returning from a professional trip, violating UEMOA regulations governing the summoning, arrest, or detention of lawyers. He was initially released but later arrested twice more and currently faces arbitrary detention on charges of “conspiracy and criminal association.” Balai citoyen members Rasmané Zinaba and Bassirou Badjo were forcibly conscripted into the Burkinabè army on February 20 and 21, 2024, respectively, and remain on the front lines despite a December 6, 2023, ruling by the Ouagadougou Administrative Court suspending their conscription orders.

The Observatory highlights that military authorities in Burkina Faso have intensified repression against human rights defenders and journalists through targeted kidnappings. This includes the abduction of journalists Guezouma Sanogo, president of the Burkinabè Journalists Association (AJB), Boukary Ouoba, AJB vice-president, and Luc Pagbeguem of the online media BF1 on March 24, 2025, as well as journalists Kalifara Sere (June 19, 2024), Serges Oulon (June 24, 2024), and Bayala Adama (June 28, 2024). All remain missing as of this publication.

The Observatory emphasizes that these abductions are part of a broader crackdown on civil society and the suppression of dissenting voices in Burkina Faso. The military government’s push for “patriotic information treatment” has led to widespread self-censorship among independent media outlets, as detailed in the February 2025 report “Civic space and human rights defenders in the Sahel: Regional convergence of repression practices.”

The Observatory warns that repression in Burkina Faso has escalated dramatically following the November 2022 and April 2023 decrees signed by the transitional president, allowing the conscription of any physically fit person over 18. These decrees have been used selectively to forcibly conscript human rights defenders and political opponents into the military, with at least ten defenders receiving conscription orders. The Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of forced conscription for Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, strongly opposing such measures. In March 2024, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances expressed its “concern about recent allegations of enforced disappearances targeting human rights defenders, journalists, and political opponents” in Burkina Faso, noting that several practices under these decrees may constitute enforced disappearances.

demanding accountability and justice

The Observatory condemns the abduction and forced disappearance of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, actions seemingly intended to punish them for their legitimate human rights advocacy.

The Observatory calls on Burkina Faso’s military authorities to:

• Ensure the physical safety and psychological well-being of Amadou Sawadogo, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, and all human rights defenders in Burkina Faso;
• Immediately reveal the whereabouts of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, grant them access to their families, and secure their unconditional release;
• Cease the systematic practice of enforced disappearances and the targeted conscription of human rights defenders and journalists to silence dissent;
• End all harassment, including judicial persecution, against Amadou Sawadogo, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, and all human rights defenders and journalists in the country, ensuring they can carry out their legitimate human rights work without fear of retaliation;
• Uphold fundamental freedoms, particularly the rights to freedom of expression and association, as guaranteed by international human rights law, including Articles 19 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Burkina Faso is a party.

take action now

Write to Burkina Faso’s military authorities, including:

• Captain Ibrahim Traore, President of the Transition, Twitter: @CapitaineIb22
• Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo, Prime Minister, Twitter: @J_E_Ouedraogo
• Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Email: [email protected]
• Jean Marie Karamoko Traore, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Email: [email protected], Twitter: @JeanMarieTraore
• National Human Rights Commission, Email: [email protected], Twitter: @BurkinaCndhX
• Sabine Bakyono Kanzie, Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the UN in Geneva, Email: [email protected]
• Oumarou Ganou, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the UN in New York, Email: [email protected]
• Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Email: [email protected]

Please also contact Burkina Faso’s diplomatic missions in your respective countries.

Note: Inform the Observatory of any actions taken by referencing the code of this appeal.

The Observatory, a partnership between FIDH and OMCT, is dedicated to protecting human rights defenders facing violations and providing them with concrete support. FIDH and OMCT are members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union’s mechanism for human rights defenders implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory:
• Emergency Line: [email protected]
• FIDH: +33 1 43 55 25 18
• OMCT: +41 22 809 49 39