After collecting more than 450 testimonies in the region, Human Rights Watch paints a chilling picture of the violence committed by the army, its allies, and jihadist groups in Burkina Faso, which may amount to crimes against humanity. The meticulous two-year research conducted by HRW leaves no doubt about the numerous massacres and abuses of civilians that have taken place and continue to persist in Burkina Faso. More than 1,800 civilians were killed between January 2023 and August 2025 in 57 incidents across 11 regions of the country, attributed to both the Burkinabe Armed Forces and their affiliated militias, the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), as well as the Islamist armed group JNIM (Support Group for Islam and Muslims, also known as GSIM, an Al-Qaeda ally). Tens of thousands of people have also been forcibly displaced. “The scale of atrocities committed in Burkina Faso is staggering, as is the lack of global attention given to this crisis,” laments Philippe Bolopion, HRW’s executive director.
These heinous abuses committed by both sides highlight the extent and intensification of violence that has been ongoing since 2016, the beginning of jihadist uprisings in the country, amid a general deterioration of security in the Sahel region. The Peul communities, accused of supporting the jihadist insurgency, are particularly targeted by the army and its militias. A report of over 300 pages published on April 2, titled “No One Will Escape: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity Committed by All Sides in Burkina Faso,” documents these human rights violations based on testimonies from over 450 individuals in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Mali, between March 2023 and February 2026, supplemented by open sources like satellite images, hours of audiovisual recordings, and various documents to verify incidents and identify those responsible.
The findings reveal that the reported incidents are not isolated acts of retaliation but rather the result of a deliberate repression strategy implemented by both parties, which could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The chains of command and responsibility include the highest levels of the Burkinabe state and the command of the Islamist armed group. The climate of terror and information censorship makes it challenging to collect numerical data.
(Note: This is a summary of the translated news article content.)
(Fact Check: Human Rights Watch conducted a two-year investigation documenting human rights abuses, including thousands of civilian deaths, in Burkina Faso at the hands of both the army and jihadist groups.)
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