Burkina Faso: Free human rights defender Daouda Diallo and end discriminatory conscription of independent voices

More than fifty days since Dr Daouda Diallo, Secretary-General of the Collective Against Impunity and Community Stigmatization (CISC), was forcibly disappeared, Amnesty International today calls on the Burkina Faso authorities for his safe return to civilian life and to end the use of conscription as a tool to silence dissent.

Dr Diallo was abducted by security agents on 1 December 2023 as he left the passport office in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, and taken to an unknown destination. A few days later, in an image shared on social media, he was shown in the back of an army truck wearing military uniform. The government has not officially acknowledged his detention nor his whereabouts, but his family and lawyers believe he is now on the frontline.

“The military authorities must immediately release Dr Daouda Diallo, and the enforced disappearance of human rights defenders and activists under the guise of conscription must end. Human rights defenders must not be subjected to harassment, intimidation, and violence by the state,” said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“Amnesty International calls on the military authorities to respect, protect, promote, and fulfil the human rights of everyone in the country. The authorities must be transparent about the entire conscription process. Amnesty International condemns the discriminatory use of the April 2023 decree on national mobilization to conscript independent public voices in Burkina Faso.

“Amnesty International also urges the military authorities in to allow individuals under conscription to regularly communicate with their families and relatives.” 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.