{"id":490377,"date":"2022-01-29T16:48:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T16:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/humanrightsdefenders.blog\/?p=22086"},"modified":"2022-01-29T16:48:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T16:48:36","slug":"burkina-faso-coup-puts-rights-at-risk-diallo-asks-military-to-respect-international-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/01\/29\/burkina-faso-coup-puts-rights-at-risk-diallo-asks-military-to-respect-international-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Burkina Faso: Coup Puts Rights at Risk \u2013 Diallo asks military to respect international law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Burkina Faso<\/a> military officers responsible for the January 2022 coup should ensure the protection of human rights and a swift transition to democratic rule, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should give priority to the humane treatment of people in custody, respect freedoms of the media and rights defenders, and ensure that counterterrorism operations respect basic rights.\u00a0.. \u00a0

\u201cThe Burkina Faso military coup occurred in a country with weak democratic institutions amid a brutal armed conflict and a growing humanitarian crisis,<\/em>\u201d said Corinne Dufka<\/a>, Sahel director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe military authorities now in control need to act urgently to protect people\u2019s rights and ensure they don\u2019t make a bad human rights situation even worse<\/em>.\u201d

During a January 24 news conference<\/a>, the self-proclaimed Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration led by Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, announced the suspension of the constitution, the dissolution of the government and national assembly, and a nationwide curfew. The movement\u2019s spokesperson said elections would be held \u201cwithin a reasonable time frame\u201d and pledged to respect Burkina Faso\u2019s international commitments, notably including human rights.

The coup leaders claimed the coup took place \u201cwithout bloodshed.\u201d However, there is uncertainty about the safety of President Kabor\u00e9 and his close associates, amid reports of potential injuries and deaths during the military takeover. The MPSR should publicly account for the whereabouts and condition of government officials in custody and allow the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the national human rights commission, and independent human rights monitors to visit Kabor\u00e9 and any other detainees. All those detained should be promptly brought before a judge and charged or be released.

The coup occurred within the context of a marked deterioration<\/a> in the country\u2019s human rights and security situation over the past year as attacks and atrocities by armed Islamist groups surged and the humanitarian situation worsened. Burkina Faso was already struggling to ensure justice for hundreds of unlawful killings by all sides, and to uphold the civil and political rights of its population.

During 2021, armed Islamist groups killed at least 250 civilians and scores of security force members during attacks in several provinces. Since 2018, Human Rights Watch has documented that government security forces and pro-government militias allegedly summarily executed<\/a> hundreds of suspects, mostly in the country\u2019s northern regions<\/a>. Virtually none of these attacks have resulted in investigations and prosecutions.

Burkinab\u00e9 rights defender, Dr. Daouda Diallo, secretary-general of the Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization (CISC), and laureate of the 2022 Martin Ennals Award<\/a> for Human Rights Defenders, told Human Rights Watch that he hoped the military authorities would \u201caddress Burkina Faso’s deepening social divisions, and ensure crucially needed protection for all civilians at risk from conflict, while scrupulously respecting international humanitarian law.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 See also: https:\/\/www.trueheroesfilms.org\/thedigest\/laureates\/ca7f1556-8f73-4b48-b868-b93a3df9b4e1<\/a>

The military authorities should also ensure respect for freedom of expression. In late 2021 and early 2022, the government shut down internet services in a move to quell protesters who had taken to the streets to demand an end to the violence and to protest rising food prices. A 2019 law criminalizing some aspects of reporting on security force operations dampened media freedom, with journalists reluctant to report on allegations of abuses by pro-government forces. Further, in 2021, the government implemented a de facto ban\u00a0on visits by journalists to internally displaced camps. After taking power, the MPSR issued a warning<\/a> against the communication of \u201cfalse news.\u201d..

Military takeovers in Africa in the past year occurred in Chad<\/a>, Guinea<\/a>, Mali<\/a>, and Sudan<\/a>. Coup leaders have often taken advantage of social unrest, grievances about corruption, and the failure of governments to respect basic rights, uphold constitutional obligations, and carry out promised reforms. Democratically elected governments need to look beyond elections as a marker of democratic progress, and focus on upholding human rights, strengthening the rule of law, and building credible, independent institutions, Human Rights Watch said…

\u201cBurkina Faso\u2019s military leadership should not allow the political upheaval created by the coup to lead to a vacuum in the protection of basic rights,\u201d Dufka said. \u201cThe military authorities need to maintain discipline within the security forces and ensure that the human rights of all Burkinab\u00e9 are respected, including their right to vote freely in elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2022\/01\/27\/burkina-faso-coup-puts-rights-risk<\/a><\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Burkina Faso military officers responsible for the January 2022 coup should ensure the protection of human rights and a swift transition to democratic rule, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should give priority to the humane treatment of people in custody, respect freedoms of the media and rights defenders, and ensure that counterterrorism operations [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":487,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41004,41502,3416,41005,1473,6,1424,2755,1483],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490378,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490377\/revisions\/490378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}