Burkina Faso’s military government has dissolved 118 associations, many of them involved in human rights and civic work, in its latest move to tighten control over civil society under junta rule. Authorities announced the decision in a statement on Wednesday, saying the affected groups were now banned from operating anywhere in the country.
The measure was announced by Territorial Administration Minister Emile Zerbo, who said the dissolutions were part of efforts to enforce Law No. 011-2025/ALT, adopted on July 17, 2025, which introduced stricter rules governing freedom of association in Burkina Faso. Zerbo urged leaders of associations to comply with the law within the prescribed deadlines and warned that violations would attract penalties under existing regulations.
The decision marks another step in a wider crackdown since Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in a September 2022 coup. Since then, the junta has steadily narrowed civic and political space, targeting civil society groups, trade unions, opposition actors and independent voices under the stated goal of restoring order and national cohesion.
The latest dissolutions follow earlier restrictions on rights organisations and come just months after the military authorities moved even more dramatically against the political sphere. In January 2026, Burkina Faso’s government dissolved all political parties and scrapped the legal framework governing them, saying the system had encouraged division and dysfunction.
Rights observers say the latest action fits a broader pattern of shrinking freedoms in the Sahel state, where security pressures from jihadist violence have increasingly been accompanied by tighter domestic repression. Human Rights Watch said this month that Burkina Faso’s military authorities and allied militias, as well as Islamist armed groups, had committed grave abuses against civilians since the junta took power, and warned of worsening conditions for rights and accountability.
The junta has defended its actions as administrative and legal enforcement. But critics say the repeated dissolution, suspension and restriction of independent organisations suggest a systematic effort to weaken scrutiny and silence dissent.
With 118 more associations now barred, concern is likely to deepen over the future of civic activism, humanitarian advocacy and human rights monitoring in Burkina Faso, where military rule shows little sign of loosening its grip.
