CRSV: Burkina Faso

Written By The Gender Security Project

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict

The ongoing war and civil conflict in Burkina Faso began in August 2015, and has been fought between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels. The insurgency in the Maghreb spread to Burkina Faso on August 23, 2015, starting with an attack on a gendarmerie by alleged members of Boko Haram (LeFigaro, 2017). Historically, between 1987 and 2014, Blaise Compaore, the president of Burkina Faso during this window of time, treated Islamists better than did the French colonial rulers (Belin, 2017). Burkina Faso also served as a mediator during the Mali war between rebels and the government, and led an intervention into Mali in 2013. In November 2014, Compaore was overthrown, and a state of instability has followed since (Hugeaux, 2017). The conflict has resulted in the displacement of over 2 million people, and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

According to Oxfam, over a million women in Burkina Faso are vulnerable to conflict-related sexual violence and food and water crises (Oxfam, 2020). Human Rights Watch (2022) reported that armed Islamist groups have carried out hundreds of killings, summary executions, and rapes of civilians alongside widespread pillaging. It interviewed 83 survivors and witnesses to incidents and indicated that rape and abuse were used to target women and girls who forage for wood, travel to and from the marketplaces, and flee from violence.  Reports show that sexual violence has been perpetrated by terrorist armed groups, security forces, camp and aid workers, foreign soldiers from Chad, and non-state actors (Akapo & Nelson, 2024). However, there are no records of CRSV by the state security forces, according to the Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs (Akapo & Nelson, 2024).  

Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence and rape have been used as tools of terror, particularly to intimidate and humiliate women. On several occasions, women were demanded to demonstrate their knowledge of the Quran, and if they did not do so or do so adequately, they were subject to violence.   In several cases, women and girls were subject to rape and sexual violence as forms of torture to extract information. It was also used as a tool to force displacement by making them flee the land and to compel them to convey ultimatums to their villages to abandon the area. Aside from this, rape and sexual violence also took place as opportunistic crimes owing to a culture of impunity.

References

The Gender Security Project
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