In a stark warning, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has highlighted the impending end of independent international oversight in a nation where “abuses are widespread.” This alarming development follows the United Nations Human Rights Office’s announcement on June 30 that it would cease operations in the country due to the government’s suspension of its local mandate.
During a conversation with UN Resident Coordinator Maurice Azonnankpo in Ouagadougou, Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traoré criticized international bodies, stating they acted like a “super police” and had infringed upon the nation’s sovereignty.
HRW pointed out that the military regime, which took control in 2022, has drastically curtailed civic and political freedoms. “Authorities have banned media outlets, dissolved unions, and shuttered numerous civil society organizations, dismantling multiparty democracy and subjecting dissenters to threats, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, and torture,” read the statement from HRW.
