Atrocities by Armed Islamists in Burkina Faso: Daily Brief

Civilians in Burkina Faso are suffering from a range of abuses by armed Islamist groups, government security forces and militia, as the conflict in the country intensifies and widens. The government, which took power in a January 2022 coup, should better protect civilians from attack and ensure that government forces respect human rights, says Human Rights Watch in new research published today. Armed Islamist groups that began attacking Burkina Faso in 2016 have become increasingly abusive, carrying out hundreds of killings, summary executions, rapes, and widespread pillaging. Also since 2016, government security forces and militias engaged in counterterrorism operations have allegedly unlawfully killed hundreds of civilians and suspected Islamist fighters, fueling recruitment into armed groups. The fighting has forced 1.8 million people from their homes, most from the Sahel and Centre-Nord regions of the country. “Armed Islamist groups are demonstrating day after day their profound disregard for the lives and livelihoods of civilians. Government forces and associated militias must scrupulously uphold international human rights and humanitarian law and desist from killing in the name of security,” says HRW's Sahel director Corinne Dufka.

A white supremacist has murdered ten people and wounded three others on Saturday in a supermarket in the city of Buffalo, in the United States. Local authorities say that the 18-year-old suspect deliberately targeted an area with a high black population, and that he apparently drove more than 320km for his killing spree. The attack is being investigated as an act of racially motivated violent extremism. According to Buffalo's mayor, the suspect wanted to take "as many black lives as possible". The New York Times reports that the suspect recently bought a Bushmaster XM-15 assault weapon from a gun shop in Endicott, New York. "Easy access to guns is part of the problem but so are laws and policies that permit white supremacist ideology, fueling hatred and violence, to be mainstreamed," wrote HRW's Laura Pitter on Twitter. "Everyone has a right to security of person. Authorities simply must do more to protect it."

Human Rights Watch has just published an easy-to-read version of a report on Afghan refugees and mental health in France. Our main ask to the French authorities: improve support for these refugees and other people who seek protection.

The rulers of Cuba don't allow people to vote freely for their representatives in government, but now it is putting marriage equality to a vote. As a right, same-sex marriage should not depend on majority preferences. Read this comment in the Miami Herald, by HRW's experts Juan Pappier and Cristian Gonzalez Cabrera. 

And many countries are calling on Russia and Ukraine to finally stop using cluster munitions, as these munitions spread multiple explosive submunitions or bomblets over a wide area, leaving dangerous duds that can kill and maim for years or even decades. “Most of the world rejected cluster munitions years ago due to their widespread indiscriminate effects and long-lasting dangers,” says HRW's expert Mary Wareham. “Condemning the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine will strengthen the global stigma against these weapons and help ensure that civilians are protected from them in future.”