Urgent appeal for missing human rights defenders in Burkina Faso

BFA 002 / 0525 / OBS 022
Kidnapping / Forced disappearance
Burkina Faso
May 2, 2025

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

Situation overview:

The Observatory has been informed of the kidnapping and forced disappearance of Mr. Amadou Sawadogo, a central region representative of the civic movement “Balai citoyen,” and Mr. Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, a sociologist and executive secretary of the same movement. Founded on August 25, 2013, Balai citoyen envisions “making Burkina Faso a just and ethical society within a democratic state under the rule of law.”

On March 20, 2025, Amadou Sawadogo was summoned to the regional state security service in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, due to critical social media posts on Facebook. During interrogation, he was pressured to reveal the addresses of two other activists now in hiding. The following day, March 21, 2025, after attending a second summons at the same facility, he vanished without any explanation or location provided by authorities.

On March 30, 2025, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé was abducted around 11:45 AM outside his home in the Karpala district 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 Foundation for Innovation in Democracy from March 24 to 28, 2025. Armed men claiming to be gendarmes seized him in front of his wife. Despite repeated inquiries by lawyers to public institutions, no information about his whereabouts has been disclosed.

As of this Urgent Appeal’s publication, the fate and location of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé remain unknown, leaving their families and colleagues without news.

The Observatory notes that other members of Balai citoyen have previously faced arrests outside legal frameworks. Me Guy Hervé Kam, a human rights lawyer and co-founder of Balai citoyen, was detained on January 24, 2024, at Ouagadougou’s international airport by national security forces, violating UEMOA regulations governing lawyer summons, arrests, or detentions. He was later released, only to be detained twice more and is currently charged and arbitrarily imprisoned for “conspiracy and criminal association.” Balai citoyen members Rasmané Zinaba and Bassirou Badjo were forcibly conscripted into the Burkinabè military on February 20 and 21, 2024, respectively, and remain on the front lines as of this publication, despite a December 6, 2023, ruling by the Ouagadougou Administrative Tribunal suspending their conscription orders.

The Observatory further highlights that military authorities in Burkina Faso have intensified repression against human rights defenders and journalists through targeted kidnappings. This includes journalists Guezouma Sanogo, president of the Burkinabè Journalists Association (AJB), Boukary Ouoba, AJB vice-president, and Luc Pagbeguem, of the online media BF1, who were kidnapped on March 24, 2025. Other missing journalists include Kalifara Sere (administrator and columnist for BF1, abducted June 19, 2024), Serges Oulon (investigative journalist, abducted June 24, 2024), and Bayala Adama (columnist, abducted 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 suppression of human rights defenders and journalists in Burkina Faso, particularly those criticizing the military authorities. This repressive climate, exacerbated by pressure to adopt a “patriotic approach to information,” has forced independent media and journalists into self-censorship, as detailed in the February 2025 report “Civic Space and Human Rights Defenders in the Sahel: Regional Convergence of Repressive Practices.” The report underscores that repression in Burkina Faso has escalated alarmingly following the November 2022 and April 2023 decrees signed by the Transition President, enabling the conscription of any physically fit individual over 18. Authorities have since selectively used kidnapping, forced disappearance, and conscription of human rights defenders and political opponents as auxiliary forces. Dozens of defenders have received conscription orders from military command. In this context, the Observatory expresses grave concern over the high risk of forced conscription for Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, firmly opposing such measures. In March 2024, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances expressed “concern over recent allegations of targeted enforced disappearances of human rights defenders, journalists, and political opponents” in Burkina Faso, deeming several practices under these decrees as “potentially constituting enforced disappearances.”

The Observatory condemns the kidnapping and forced disappearance of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, which appear solely intended to punish them for their legitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory urges Burkina Faso’s military authorities to take all necessary steps to clarify the fate and location of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, secure their immediate and unconditional release, and fully investigate their abduction and disappearance.

The Observatory also calls on military authorities to uphold the rights to freedom of expression and association, as enshrined in international human rights standards, particularly 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.

Required actions:

The Observatory urges you to contact Burkina Faso’s military authorities with the following demands:

1. Ensure the physical and psychological safety of Amadou Sawadogo, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, and all human rights defenders in Burkina Faso;
2. Take all necessary measures to reveal the fate and whereabouts of Amadou Sawadogo and Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, grant them access to their families, and secure their immediate and unconditional release;
3. Immediately cease systemic practices of enforced disappearance and targeted conscription of human rights defenders and journalists to silence dissent;
4. End all harassment, including judicial harassment, against Amadou Sawadogo, Miphal Ousmane Lankoandé, and all human rights defenders and journalists in the country, ensuring they can conduct their legitimate human rights work without fear of retaliation;
5. Fully respect fundamental freedoms, particularly the right 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.

Contact details:

• Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Transition President of Burkina Faso, Twitter: @CapitaineIb22
• Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo, Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Twitter: @J_E_Ouedraogo
• Me Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, Minister of Justice, Human Rights, and Institutional Relations, Keeper of the Seals of Burkina Faso, Email: [email protected];
• Jean Marie Karamoko Traore, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation, and Burkinabè Abroad, Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @JeanMarieTraore;
• National Human Rights Commission of Burkina Faso, Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @BurkinaCndhX
• H.E. Ms. Sabine Bakyono Kanzie, Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
• Mr. M. Oumarou Ganou, Counselor for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Burkina Faso to the United Nations in New York (United States), Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso, Email: [email protected]
• Permanent Mission of Burkina Faso to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Email: [email protected] / [email protected].

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

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Paris-Geneva, May 2, 2025

Please inform the Observatory of any actions taken, referencing the code for 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, use the Emergency Line:
· Email: [email protected]
· FIDH Tel: +33 1 43 55 25 18
· OMCT Tel: +41 22 809 49 39