None Can Run Away: War crimes and crimes against humanity in Burkina Faso
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Narrator: There’s a brutal conflict going on in West Africa that many people have never heard of. In Burkina Faso, government forces have been fighting Islamist armed groups for more than a decade. All sides have made attacks on civilians a key part of their strategies, killing thousands. More than 2 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
Soundbite: “That day, 25 people died on the spot. Some were cut up by the impact of the airstrike; others had their heads cut off. Some died from choking on the dust they inhaled after the strike. After the strike, everyone started to flee.”
Narrator: So why haven’t many people heard about this crisis? Burkina Faso’s military government has banned or silenced local and international media and created a climate of fear to deter people from speaking out.
Soundbite: “The VDPs [government-backed militia] surrounded us, they told us to watch what they were going to do. There were people who had been stabbed with iron bars. When they finished stabbing, they slit their throats.”
Narrator: Human Rights Watch spent a year and a half documenting 57 attacks across Burkina Faso. We spoke with nearly 400 witnesses over the phone or in neighboring countries where they had fled and documented the killing of at least 1,800 civilians between 2023 and 2025. But this may be the tip of the iceberg.
Narrator: Since President Ibrahim Traoré took power in a military coup in 2022, he has made the fight against Islamist armed groups his main objective.
Narrator: The military has armed tens of thousands of people in a militia called the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland, commonly known as VDPs. If a community has VDPs, JNIM, one of the main Islamist armed groups, often targets the entire population.
And government forces have massacred civilians simply for living in areas that JNIM controls.
Narrator: The military and VDPs have especially targeted ethnic Fulani people whom they accuse of supporting JNIM.
Entire Fulani communities have been attacked and forcibly displaced, and their property looted, acts that amount to ethnic cleansing.
Soundbite: They [VDPs] told us: “It’s [President] Ibrahim Traoré who sent us to kill you.” And they began slitting the throats of people in front of us. They called us “terrorists,” which we are not.
Narrator: Military abuses have fueled recruitment by JNIM and the cycle of retaliatory attacks has led to widespread violence against civilians. All sides have committed abuses that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. To seek justice for these crimes, we needed to identify who was responsible.
Narrator: So, we used AI to go through thousands of hours of footage from Burkina Faso’s state-owned news channel and a social media platform used by JNIM. The software we developed identified key information about JNIM, military units, and the names of people involved in specific attacks. This information, along with witness accounts, allowed us to identify members of the Burkinabé armed forces and JNIM who were in a position of command during each attack.
Narrator: These include: Capt. Ibrahim Traoré, the president of Burkina Faso, and top military commanders. It also includes the leaders of JNIM, such as Iyad Ag Ghaly, Amadou Kouffa, and Jafar Dicko.
Narrator: None have been held accountable. States should investigate these serious international crimes, and the International Criminal Court should bring perpetrators to justice. Accountability and civilian protection cannot wait.
The Burkinabè military and allied militias, as well as an Al Qaeda-linked armed group, have killed at least 1,800 civilians and forcibly displaced tens of thousands in Burkina Faso since mid-2022, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Along with other abuses, these atrocities amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Government forces have also carried out ethnic cleansing against the Fulani people.
The report, “‘None Can Run Away:’ War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Burkina Faso by All Sides,” documents the devastating impact on civilians of a conflict that has drawn far too little global attention. It exposes numerous atrocities by Burkinabè military forces and allied militias known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDPs), as well as the Al Qaeda-linked armed group Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wa al‑Muslimin (JNIM), since September 2022, when the current military junta seized power.
