Samer [not his real name], a resident of Bouro village, Sahel region, Burkina Faso. On December 14, 2023, Burkina Faso military forces and allied militias killed 19 of Samer’s relatives in an attack on his neighborhood in Bouro. Alone, amid bodies and devastation, Samer tended to six injured children. “I started caring for them with what I had,” he told Human Rights Watch. “I made bandages with clothes I tore off. I did this all evening. There was no one in Bouro. All had fled.” Samer then took the children and fled to neighboring Mali. © 2026 John Holmes for Human Rights Watch
© 2026 John Holmes for Human Rights Watch