Burkina Faso has been added to the Civic Monitor watchlist for July 2026, due to the fact that the country has recently undergone a dramatic civic space contraction, since the military took over in September 2022.
""We have witnessed an escalating pattern of repression. But what pushed us to include the country this year is the sharp scale and intensity of state action against civil society," Nelson Baiye Mbu, a civic space research officer and an expert in human rights for the NGO CIVICUS Monitor, where he covers the Central, Western, and Lusophone regions of Africa.
There are three major reasons why Burkina Faso has been placed on this year's watch list by the NGO.
The first relates to the growing restrictive laws, particularly a law on freedom of association, enacted in July 2025.
This legislation introduced strict compliance requirements and regulations, which "the military authorities have instrumentalised to suspend civil society organisations and associations," Baiye Mbu says.
Another major reason is the fact that the military authorities have systematically used criticisms and dissent as grounds for civil repression, across multiple sectors.
"For example, the General Student Union of Burkina Faso published statements criticising the military authorities security record, and the authorities responded by suspending the union," Baiye Mbu continues. "We also have the case of the prominent Sunni Imam, Muhammad Ishaq, who was arrested in May 2026 after he publicly criticised a religious freedom bill."
And lastly, the third main reason to include Burkina in this year's watchlist is that the military authorities dissolved the about 100 registered political parties in January 2026, thus transferring their assets to the state.
The military have this way decided to shrink the institutional channels for organised dissent and political participation, the NGO states.
Rapid, predictable deterioration
Burkina Faso's inclusion was actually anticipated, the expert also underlines.
He has monitored the country based on the information the NGO gets from online open source media, media sources, as well as from our research partners, to obtain regular updates on the civic space situation in Burkina Faso.
"If you look at the trajectory, it has been very visible since 2023. For example, we observed the forced conscription of journalists and activists under the guise of general mobilisation decree."
Regarding the press, outlets like The Voice of America, BBC Africa and others were suspended from 2024.
"So civil space deterioration wasn't a new thing. Even the dissolution of all political parties in January 2026 was a formality, as activities of political parties were already banned since September 2022."
As of 11 June, 2026, at least 1,174 civil society organisations have been suspended or dissolved.
Activists, journalists, and religious leaders face arrests and enforced disappearances. Military authorities have also been accused of using forced military conscription to silence critics.
Censorship has deepened, notably with the indefinite suspension of TV5 Monde on May 5, 2026. Authorities are also increasingly limiting international scrutiny, recently suspending the United Nations Human Rights Office in Burkina Faso.
The military authorities dissolved 118 civil society organisations on 15 April 2026 alone, citing a non-compliance with the new Law on Freedom of Association.
Another 564 associations were suspended between April and May 2026.
"These organisations were given a one year grace period to comply, yet the suspensions came before that period even ended and again one month later, on 11 June 2026, another 245 civil society organisations were suspended. We are looking at about 1174 civil society organisations either suspended or dissolved, and these suspensions and dissolution comes amidst trends of silencing critical voices in the country."
The worst in a grim regional context
Burkina Faso sits within a regional context where it shares very similar trajectories with its immediate neighbours, Niger and Mali, which all underwent coups and left the regional body Ecowas.
"What's striking is that all three countries are now under military rule, and they have made a deliberate choice to align themselves together rather than remain within traditional regional structures, in January 2024, formalising the confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States, presenting themselves as a distinct, bloc from the wider West African community."
"But what is peculiar about Burkina Faso in this equation is the intensity and the pace of civil space contraction," the expert insists.
"The military took power in September 2022, but the real acceleration happened in 2026. We are talking about 1174 civil society organisations suspended or dissolved by mid June alone. And this wasn't a gradual process.
The regime has moved beyond targeting individuals, they are cracking down on civil society.
"So, while Mali and Niger may be competing in this area, Burkina Faso's 2026 civil space record represents a particularly aggressive consolidation of military authority, with very little space left for dissent or independent organising," Baiye Mbu says.
"My suggestion and recommendation is that the international community monitors work, through secure channels, to aggregate information from multiple sources and build digital communication systems that can make it harder to suppress evidence," he adds.
The challenge is that local monitors or civil societies themselves are under tremendous pressure.
"So international capacity building support must become even more critical," Baiye Mbu concludes.
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*A shorter version of this piece is to come out on RFI's website
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