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Human Rights Watch previously reported that abusive counterterrorism operations and unlawful killings of suspects in custody, as well as abusive self-defense groups, are widely believed to have pushed many into the ranks of the armed Islamist groups. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
3 A landlocked nation of 20 million people, Burkina Faso spiraled from a largely peaceful— while imperfect—democracy in 2016 to a country struggling in 2020 to cope with over 830,000 people displaced from their homes, 2.2 million people (including 1.2 million children) in need of humanitarian assistance, 4 and attacks of varying frequencies by 1 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “Displacement and humanitarian needs rise in the Sahel,” February 27, 2020, https://www.unocha.org/story/displacement-and-humanitarian-needs-rise-sahel (accessed March 23, 2020); Eric Schmitt, “Terrorism Threat in West Africa Soars as U.S. Weighs Troop Cuts,” New York Times, February 27, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/world/africa/terrorism-west-africa.html (accessed March 15, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
2 UN News, “‘Unprecedented terrorist violence’ in West Africa, Sahel region,” January 8, 2020, https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/01/1054981 (accessed March 15, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
3 See Corinne Dufka (Human Rights Watch), “Burkina Faso’s Atrocities in the Name of Security Will Help Terrorists’ Ranks,” op-ed in Washington Post, June 12, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/12/burkina-fasos-atrocities-name-security- will-help-terrorists-ranks; Jonathan Pedneault (Human Rights Watch), “The Country of Honest Men at a Crossroad,” op-ed in Le Monde, March 18, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/03/18/country-honest-men-crossroad. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
4 OCHA, “Burkina Faso: Humanitarian Snapshot,” April 15, 2020, https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ 20200415_apercu_de_la_situation_humanitaire_bfa_en.pdf (accessed April 25, 2020); UNICEF, “Humanitarian Action for Children 2020 - Burkina Faso,” December 3, 2019, https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/humanitarian-action-children- 2020-burkina-faso (accessed March 22, 2020).
19 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 armed insurgents across at least 7 of its 13 regions. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In January 2020, a state of emergency was extended in provinces of six regions for another year.
5 The number of killings multiplied from about 80 in 2016 to over 1,800 in 2019, according to the UN.
6 The growing presence of armed groups in Burkina Faso is linked to insecurity in neighboring Mali, where northern regions fell to separatist Tuareg and Al-Qaeda-linked armed groups in 2012. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
7 From 2015, armed Islamist groups spread to central Mali, and from 2016, with the emergence of Ansaroul Islam, into Burkina Faso.
8 Initially concentrated in 5 “Terrorism : West Africa at a crossroads” (“Terrorisme : l'Afrique de l'Ouest au milieu du gué,”) Le Point, January 6, 2020, https://www.lepoint.fr/afrique/terrorisme-l-afrique-de-l-ouest-au-milieu-du-gue-06-01-2020-2356260_3826.php (accessed March 22, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
6 UN News, “‘Unprecedented terrorist violence’ in West Africa, Sahel region” (January 2020).
7 Human Rights Watch interviews with security analysts, Bamako, Sevare and Ouagadougou, 2016-2019.
8 See “Mali: Abuses Spread South,” Human Rights Watch news release, February 19, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/02/19/mali-abuses-spread-south; and International Crisis Group, “The Social Roots of Members of Burkinabè armed Islamist group Ansaroul Islam during a gathering in 2017. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Ansaroul Islam and other armed Islamist groups present in Burkina Faso are implicated in numerous atrocities against civilians, including extrajudicial executions and attacks on schools and teachers.
© 2017 Héni Nsaibia/MENASTREAM “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 20 Burkina Faso’s Sahel region, armed Islamist activity steadily spread to the Nord, Est, Boucle du Mouhoun, and Centre-Nord regions, which together have suffered the bulk of the attacks, as well as to Centre-Est and Centre-Sud. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Additional attacks have occurred in other regions.
9 A patchwork of groups with shifting and overlapping allegiances are involved in—and have claimed responsibility for—the attacks, including the homegrown Burkinabè armed Islamist group Ansaroul Islam, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and Al- Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its affiliates, notably the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
10 Education in Burkina Faso Burkina Faso’s 2007 education law declares education a “national priority,” guarantees everyone the right to education, and makes schooling compulsory from ages 6 to 16.
The law guarantees free basic public education, excluding registration fees.
11 In practice, public education in Burkina Faso is not free.
Communities frequently take on responsibility for constructing primary school buildings and teachers’ housing or keeping school supplies stocked. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
As a result, community parents’ associations, which manage much of the upkeep of local schools, often impose registration fees on students.
This remains a financial barrier to education for many families.
12 Jihadist Violence in Burkina Faso’s North,” https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/burkina-faso/254-social-roots- jihadist-violence-burkina-fasos-north (accessed April 23, 2018). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
9 See Human Rights Watch, “By Day We Fear the Army, By Night the Jihadists”: Abuses by Armed Islamists and Security Forces in Burkina Faso, May 21, 2018, https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/05/21/day-we-fear-army-night-jihadists/abuses- armed-islamists-and-security-forces; Hermann Boko, “In Burkina Faso, the terrorist threat is spreading to the east,” France 24, August 9, 2019, https://www.france24.com/en/20180908-burkina-faso-terrorism-threat-spreading-east-g5-sahel-mali- aqim-gsim-al-qaeda-jihad (assessed March 6, 2019). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
10 Caleb Weiss, “Analysis: Within a span of week, the jihadist group claimed seven attacks on Malian and Burkinabe military targets, as well as local militia groups," Long War Journal, January 30, 2019, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/ 2019/01/al-qaeda-group-claims-series-of-attacks-across-sahel.php (accessed March 6, 2019).
11 Burkina Faso, Loi no. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
11 Burkina Faso, Loi no.
013-2007/AN portant Loi d'orientation de l'éducation, available at https://planipolis.iiep.unesco.org/ en/2007/loi-no-013-2007an-portant-loi-dorientation-de-l%C3%A9ducation-4372 (accessed March 15, 2020), arts.
3-6. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
3-6.
12 Human Rights Watch interview with Alexice To-Camier, West Africa director, TuaRes Foundation, Ouagadougou, December 13, 2019; interview with a primary school principal, Kaya, January 29, 2020; US Department of Labor, “2005 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor—Burkina Faso,” August 29, 2006, available at https://www.refworld.org/country,COI,USDOL,ANNUALREPORT,BFA,,48d748df23,0.html (accessed March 14, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
21 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 Schools in Burkina Faso include government public schools, private schools accredited by the government, and unaccredited private schools.
Traditional Quranic schools (foyers coraniques) are not integrated into the formal education system. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Even prior to the security crisis, Burkina Faso’s education system faced serious challenges including lack of qualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient infrastructure and teaching materials, low completion rates, and gender bias.
13 Many school buildings remain unfinished, lacking boundary walls for protection and sufficient classrooms, desks, or materials. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In rural areas, schools often operate under a 13 Burkina Faso Education in Emergencies Working Group (Groupe de Travail sur l’Education en Situations d’Urgence, GT- ESU), “Education in Burkina Faso — A Brief Overview” (“L’Education au Burkina Faso—Bref Apercu”), November 2019 (on file with Human Rights Watch); Human Rights Watch interviews with education-in-emergencies specialists from Plan International, UNICEF, and Save the Children, Ouagadougou, January-February 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
An overcrowded primary school classroom in Kaya, Centre-Nord region, January 29, 2020.
© 2020 Lauren Seibert/Human Rights Watch “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 22 thatched canopy outdoors.
14 Public school teachers are frequently deployed to areas outside their localities of origin, and many schools include teacher housing located on school grounds or nearby.
However, in schools without housing, some teachers sleep in classrooms, offices or warehouses. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
15 The government made notable progress during the decade prior to the conflict in improving girls’ access to education.
For example, primary school net enrollment rates 16 for the 2001- 2002 school year were 30 percent for girls and 42 percent for boys; completion rates were 23 percent for girls and 34 percent for boys. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
As of the 2015-2016 school year, prior to the conflict, primary school net enrollment rates were 71 percent for both girls and boys; completion rates were 61 percent for girls and 55 percent for boys.
For post-primary (middle) school, girls had also achieved parity with boys in enrollment rates, and near- parity in completion rates. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
17 Nevertheless, girls in Burkina Faso still face particular barriers impacting their education, including high levels of child marriage, female genital mutilation, and sexual violence and harassment in and en route to school.
18 Although the government adopted a strategy to prevent teenage pregnancies, some school officials still reportedly ban pregnant girls from school due to social norms and stigmas. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
19 14 Human Rights Watch interview with François Yameogo, secretary-general, Syndicat National des Travailleurs de l’Education de Base (SYNATEB), Ouagadougou, December 12, 2019.
15 Human Rights Watch interviews with teachers in Sahel, Centre-Est, and Centre-Nord regions, January-March 2020.
16 Net enrollment rate is the number of students enrolled who are of the age of that particular level of education, expressed as a percentage of the total population in that age group. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
17 For the 2015-2016 school year, post-primary school net enrollment rates were 26.5% for girls and 25.2% for boys, and completion rates were 28.6% for girls and 29.8% for boys. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Ministry of National Education, Literacy and Promotion of National Languages of Burkina Faso (Ministère de l’Education nationale, de l’alphabétisation et de la promotion des langues nationales, MENAPLN), Preschool Education Statistical Yearbook 2018/2019 (Annuaire Statistique de l’Education Préscolaire 2018/2019), August 2019 (on file with Human Rights Watch); MENAPLN, Primary Education Statistical Yearbook 2018/2019 (Annuaire Statistique de l’Enseignement Primaire 2018/2019), September 2019 (on file); MENAPLN, Post-Primary and Secondary Education Statistical Yearbook 2018/2019 (Annuaire Statistique de l’Enseignement Post-Primaire et Secondaire 2018/2019), September 2019 (on file). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
18 UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “Burkina Faso: Artist Smarty is committed to fight child marriage,” July 5, 2019, https://www.unicef.org/wca/press-releases/burkina-faso-artist-smarty-committed-fight-child-marriage (accessed April 15, 2020); Sabine Terlecki, “In Burkina Faso, girls speak out against the security and learning crises,” March 18, 2019, https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/burkina-faso-girls-speak-out-against-security-and-learning-crises (accessed April 16, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
19 See Human Rights Watch, Leave No Girl Behind in Africa: Discrimination in Education against Pregnant Girls and Adolescent Mothers, June 14, 2018, https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/06/14/leave-no-girl-behind-africa/discrimination- education-against-pregnant-girls-and. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
23 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 Gender disparities persisted in access to secondary education both prior to and during the conflict, with girls still lagging slightly behind boys in secondary (high) school enrollment, and even more so behind boys in secondary school completion.
20 Negative Consequences of the Conflict on the Education System The conflict and attacks on education have greatly compounded the preexisting challenges and further eroded education infrastructure. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Frequently, attacks on teachers or schools not only resulted in the closure of the school concerned, but provoked “cascades” of school closures and the panicked flight of teachers from neighboring communities.
21 Additionally, at least 62 schools were used by displaced people seeking shelter in 2019. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
22 As of March 10, 2020, the education ministry reported that 2,512 schools were closed due to insecurity—a surge of more than 1,000 schools since the end of the previous academic year—affecting 349,909 students and 11,219 teachers.
23 This meant that around 13 percent of Burkina Faso’s schools (preschool to secondary) had already closed due to attacks or insecurity prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, which resulted in the closure of all schools from mid-March. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
24 Of the five regions most affected by the conflict-related school closures, Sahel region topped the list in early March with a reported 947 schools closed (80 percent of the region’s schools), followed by 556 schools in Est (38 percent), 366 in Centre-Nord (21 percent), 357 in Nord (18 percent), and 239 in Boucle du Mouhoun (13 percent).
The remaining closed schools were in Centre-Est (46) and Centre-Sud (1). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
25 20 For the 2015-2016 school year, secondary school net enrollment rates were 4.1% for girls and 5.7% for boys, and completion rates were 7.6% for girls and 12.1% for boys.
MENAPLN, Annuaires Statistiques 2018/2019.
21 Human Rights Watch interviews with education professionals, witnesses, and parents, Burkina Faso, December 2019 – March 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
22 MENAPLN, “Report on back-to-school statistics for education in emergencies” (“Rapport sur les statistiques de rentrée de l’éducation en situation d’urgence”), October 19, 2019 (on file with Human Rights Watch); Human Rights Watch interviews with teachers, principals and students in Burkina Faso, January-March 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
23 MENAPLN, “Weekly report on education-in-emergencies data as of March 10, 2020” (“Rapport hebdomadaire sur les données ESU à la date du 10 mars 2020”), March 16, 2020 (on file with Human Rights Watch); MENAPLN, “Rapport sur les statistiques de rentrée de l’éducation en situation d’urgence” (October 2019).
24 Ibid.
; Wakatsera, “Coronavirus au Burkina: les écoles fermées,” March 14, 2020, https://www.wakatsera.com/coronavirus-au-burkina-les-ecoles-fermees/ (accessed March 28, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
25 MENAPLN, “Rapport hebdomadaire sur les données ESU à la date du 10 mars 2020.” “THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 24 While enrollment and completion rates for primary, post-primary, and secondary school in Burkina Faso had increased every year between 2015 and 2018, they decreased for the 2018-2019 school year for primary and post-primary school, 26 likely in response to surging attacks during that period. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, the Burkinabè government had reopened at least 840 schools as of early March 2020, 27 in addition to other steps to ensure continued access to education for displaced children and those affected by school closures.
These efforts are examined in section VIII. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Burkina Faso: School Enrollment and Completion Rates During the Conflict 2017-2018 School Year Primary Post-Primary (Middle School) Secondary (High School) Girls Boys All Girls Boys All Girls Boys All Net enrollment rate 74.1% 74.4% 74.3% 29% 26.2% 27.6% 4.7% 6.1% 5.4% Gross enrollment rate 90.9% 90.6% 90.7% 54.6% 49.6% 52% 14.5%, 20.6% 17.6% Completion rate 67.6% 58.8% 63% 42.1% 39.2% 40.6% 11.9% 17.7% 14.8% 2018-2019 School Year Primary Post-Primary Secondary Girls Boys All Girls Boys All Girls Boys All Net enrollment rate 72.7% 72.8% 72.7% 28.4% 24.9% 26.6% 6.1% 7.1% 6.6% Gross enrollment rate 89.2% 88.4% 88.8% 54.1% 47.1% 50.5% 19% 24.2% 21.6% Completion rate 66.3% 57.4% 61.7% 41.7% 36.3% 39% 12.9% 17.8% 15.4% *Rates in red show decreases from prior year, likely due to increasing insecurity and attacks on schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Data source: MENAPLN, “2018/2019 Statistical Yearbooks” for primary, post-primary and secondary school.
26 MENAPLN, Annuaires Statistiques 2018/2019.
27 MENAPLN, “Rapport hebdomadaire sur les données ESU à la date du 10 mars 2020.” 25 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 II.
Perpetrators of Attacks on Teachers, Students and Schools Most of the attacks on students, teachers, and schools documented by Human Rights Watch were unclaimed. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
However, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and Ansaroul Islam identified themselves or claimed responsibility in a few cases.
During a November 2018 attack on a middle school in Toulfé, Nord region, in which five teachers were whipped and the school burned, the attackers orally stated they were with Ansaroul Islam and left a signed note.
28 ISGS reportedly took responsibility for the April 2018 abduction of primary school teacher Issouf Souabo in Soum province, Sahel region. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
29 Additionally, in a video circulated in early 2019—which reportedly depicts the October 19, 2017 burning by several armed Islamists of a school in Tem commune, Soum province, Sahel region—attackers spoke Fulfulde and Arabic and “identified themselves as ‘soldiers of the Islamic State in Burkina Faso and Mali [ISGS],’” according to an analyst for the Middle East and North Africa security research group MENASTREAM. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
30 During a 2018 attack on a primary school in Centre-Nord region, according to an eyewitness, armed men carried a black flag with white Arabic script similar to both Al Qaeda and Islamic State flags.
31 In a 2020 attack on a school in Est region, armed men told teachers “they were jihadists” and ordered them to stop classes.
32 28 Human Rights Watch interview with victim, Loroum province, Nord region, February 16-17, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
29 “Burkina Faso: jihadist group EIGS claims the kidnapping of a teacher” (“Burkina Faso : le groupe jihadiste EIGS revendique le rapt d’un enseignant”), RFI Afrique, April 18, 2018, http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20180418-burkina-faso-le-groupe- jihadiste-eigs-revendique-le-rapt-enseignant (accessed May 10, 2018); "Jihadists abduct Burkina teacher ‘for speaking French’,” Expatica, April 17, 2018, https://www.expatica.com/fr/news/country-news/Burkina-attack- kidnapping_1815096.html (accessed April 23, 2018). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
30 Human Rights Watch email correspondence with Héni Nsaibia, director, MENASTREAM, May 4, 2020.
See also MENASTREAM Twitter thread, February 2, 2019, https://twitter.com/MENASTREAM/status/1091782860875403265 (accessed May 5, 2020).
31 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher from Sanmatenga province, Centre-Nord region, February 9, 2020.
32 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher from Tapoa province (Est region), Ouagadougou, February 11, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 26 Images from a video circulated on social media in early 2019 depict the burning of a school in Burkina Faso by armed Islamists who identified themselves as members of the Islamic State.
An analysis by the security research group MENASTREAM of satellite imagery compared to images in the video suggests the video shows an October 19, 2017 attack on a school in Tem, Sahel region. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
© 2017 Héni Nsaibia/ MENASTREAM 27 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 Witnesses, community members, and security sources widely presumed armed Islamist groups—most notably Ansaroul Islam, but also ISGS and the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM)—to be behind the unclaimed education-related attacks across the country. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In dozens of cases documented by Human Rights Watch, survivors recounted that the perpetrators—typically armed with Kalashnikov military assault weapons, wearing either military uniforms or longer traditional garments (boubous), and often wearing turbans with their faces covered—gave speeches before, during, or after their attacks stating their position against education and issuing threats. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In nearly all cases, attackers stated that they were against “French education,” “classic education,” or the education of “whites”; and that teachers “should only be teaching Arabic” or the Quran. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
33 Attackers typically issued variations of the same threat, as recounted by scores of witnesses: “If we return and find anyone here [at the school] again” or “anyone here teaching in French,” “we will kill you.” They often denounced “anything connected to the government,” to “whites” or to “Europeans.” 34 All of these threats aligned with the stated ideology of armed Islamist groups.
33 Human Rights Watch interviews with teachers, students, victims and witnesses, Burkina Faso, December 2019 – March 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
34 Ibid.
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 28 III.
Attacks on Teachers and Education Professionals Attacks and abuses against teachers, principals, school staff, and other education professionals—anyone perceived to be promoting government-run, French education in Burkina Faso—have steadily increased since 2017, when the first principal, Salifou Badini, was killed in Sahel region. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
These attacks, mostly targeting teachers, have included killings; violent assault; physical restraint including tying, chaining and blindfolding; robbery and destruction of personal property; and threats and intimidation.
Principals, many of whom also teach, were often sought out for particularly harsh treatment.
Human Rights Watch documented the execution-style killings between 2017 and 2020 of 15 people allegedly targeted by armed Islamist groups for their connection to education. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Human Rights Watch also documented the assault, abduction, or detention of 20 education professionals by presumed armed Islamists between 2018 and 2020.
Abductions lasted between a day and two months.
Incidents took place in six regions: Sahel, Nord, Centre-Nord, Boucle du Mouhoun, Est, and Centre-Est.
During seven attacks, assailants also damaged or destroyed school infrastructure or materials.
Seven attacks were perpetrated in front of students. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
In dozens of other cases documented by Human Rights Watch, teachers and school employees were threatened, often with death, and ordered to cease teaching in French or to leave the locality.
In some cases, teachers were also robbed or suffered destruction of personal property.
Among the cases documented, all of the education professionals targeted for the gravest attacks—killings, violence, abduction—were men. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Both male and female teachers were victims of threats, intimidation, robbery, and property destruction.
According to survivors and witnesses, victims were of various ethnicities including Mossi, Peuhl, Gourmantché, Bobo, and Foulsé, while attackers most frequently spoke Fulfulde (a language of the ethnic Peuhl), followed by Moore (spoken by the Mossi), Gourmantché, Dioula, French, and, in at least one instance, Tamasheq (spoken by the Tuareg or Bella). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
29 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 In a May 2020 letter to Human Rights Watch, the education ministry reported that 222 education workers had been “victims of terrorist attacks,” including 12 killed and others who were assaulted, robbed, or had their property destroyed.35 Targeted Killings No one claimed responsibility for the 15 killings documented by Human Rights Watch, which included 12 education professionals killed in seven attacks between March 2017 and February 2020, and three construction workers killed at a school in April 2019. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The attacks took place in Sahel region (six killings), Centre-Est (five), Nord (three), and Est (one).
Of the 12 education professionals killed, nine were working in public schools at the time; two were teachers reportedly working for local education authorities; and one was a village chief and retired teacher who taught on a voluntary basis.
Ten individuals were shot, while two were beheaded.
Seven were killed in front of students. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Several teachers and community leaders suggested to Human Rights Watch that two early teacher killings, in 2017, may have been reprisals by Ansaroul Islam against teachers who had joined Ansaroul founder Malam Dicko’s early religious association Al-Irchad— receiving benefits such as land, houses, and debt repayment—but who had refused to support the group’s evolution into an armed insurgency.36 However, relatives, witnesses, analysts, and education professionals attributed many subsequent killings of teachers to armed Islamists’ broader agenda of stopping “French” education and ridding territory of government workers, though there may also have been additional motivations for the attacks. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
37 35 MENAPLN, letter to Human Rights Watch RE: “Responses to the concerns of Human Rights Watch regarding the attacks on teachers, students and schools in Burkina Faso,” May 18, 2020 (see Annex II).
36 See Human Rights Watch, “By Day We Fear the Army, By Night the Jihadists,” p. 24; International Crisis Group, “The Social Roots of Jihadist Violence in Burkina Faso’s North,” report no. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
254, October 12, 2017, https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/ west-africa/burkina-faso/254-social-roots-jihadist-violence-burkina-fasos-north (accessed March 30, 2020).
37 Human Rights Watch interviews with witnesses, victim’s relatives, security analysts, and education professionals, Burkina Faso, December 2019 – March 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 30 February 2020 (Nord): School Administrator Abducted, Killed The body of Ali Zorome, an administrator at Loroum Provincial High School in Titao, was found by soldiers near Samboulga village in Sollé commune on February 22, 2020.
38 A teacher at Zorome’s school said: “[Zorome] had gone to visit his family in Sollé, and he’d left on February 8 to return.
Along the way, he was abducted.
... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Along the way, he was abducted.
...
The next day when they called his phone, somebody else answered, so they knew something had happened.
[The abductors] held him for two weeks.” 39 While the motivation behind the killing is unclear, attacks against schools and teachers had previously taken place in Loroum and neighboring provinces, suggesting that Zorome’s profession may have been a factor. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Two days later, in the neighboring province of Yatenga, two cases of teachers “brutalized” and “intimidated” by armed men were reported in the localities of Tangaye and Bossomnoré.
40 December 2019 (Est): Village Chief, a Volunteer Teacher, Killed The night of December 28, 2019, armed Islamists attacked the family compound of the Gourmantché community village chief in Nadiabonli village, in Partiaga commune, Tapoa province. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The attackers shot and killed the chief, Kondjoa Marcellin Tankoano, who also volunteered as a teacher and tutored students.
“We the family know this [attack] was linked to education, because he was the only intellectual in the village... and he taught those that needed help... and [the armed Islamists] were against this,” said a relative.
41 The chief, about 75, had previously worked as a teacher in Cascades region, according to relatives. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Upon retirement, he returned to his village, oversaw the construction of a middle 38 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher from Loroum Provincial High School, Titao, Nord region, March 2, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
See also “Ouahigouya: Dead body of an education administrator found after a terrorist attack” (“Ouahigouya : le corps sans vie d’un attaché d'éducation retrouvé après une attaque terroriste”), Fasozine, February 24, 2020, http://www.fasozine.com/actualite/societe/8311-ouahigouya-le-corps-sans-vie-d-un-attache-d-education-retrouve-apres- une-attaque-terroriste.html (accessed March 1, 2020).
39 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher from Loroum Provincial High School, Titao, March 2, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
40 Human Rights Watch correspondence with security expert, Ouagadougou, February 28, 2020; correspondence with education professional, Nord region, February 27, 2020.
41 Human Rights Watch interview with family member, location withheld, February 27, 2020.
31 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 school funded by private donors, and taught there as a volunteer, in addition to tutoring children in the evenings. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
42 A family member said: The schools in the commune were already under threat... Just two to three kilometers away, [armed Islamists] had kidnapped teachers.
... By late 2019, the middle school was functioning irregularly.
...
The chief often went to the school to help teach, since there were frequently teachers absent.
In the evenings, he helped children who hadn’t understood the lessons.
That night, around 9 p.m., he was giving exercises in math, physics and chemistry to students.
... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
...
He was in [his family] courtyard, seated on his terrace, where he had a chalkboard to write the lessons.
The children were on benches that he’d made himself.
Suddenly, armed men entered the royal court, shouting, “The chief, the chief, where is he?” There was a struggle, and they shot him in the head in front of the students.
They are still traumatized.
43 Another relative noted, “They had burned schools [in Partiaga], and it stung him to see young girls and boys out of school. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
After teachers started fleeing, he said he’d continue to teach.
...
He was someone who truly had a heart for education.” 44 A teachers’ union representative said that after seven schools were attacked in the commune in 2019, many had closed.
“The chief had encouraged teachers not to leave,” he said. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“After he was killed, all the commune’s schools closed for a month.” 45 42 Human Rights Watch interview with relatives, location withheld, February 2020; interview with teacher’s union representative, Partiaga, Est region, February 17, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
See also Karina Fofana, “Burkina Faso: Who is Marcellin Tankoano, the martyr of knowledge killed by terrorists?” (“Burkina Faso : Qui est Marcellin Tankoano, le martyr du savoir tué par les terroristes ?”), Afrik Soir, December 31, 2019, https://www.afriksoir.net/burkina-faso-qui-est-marcellin-tankoano-le-martyr- du-savoir-tue-par-les-terroristes/ (accessed February 10, 2020).
43 Human Rights Watch interview with family member, location withheld, February 27, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
44 Human Rights Watch interview with Justine Kielem, president, Groupe d’Action pour la Promotion, l’Education et la Formation de la Femme et de la Jeune Fille (GAPEF), Ouagadougou, February 4, 2020.
45 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher’s union representative, Partiaga, Est region, February 17, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 32 October 2019 (Sahel/Nord): Principal Abducted, Killed On October 26, 2019, the body of Souleymane Ouedraogo, principal of a primary school in Pobé-Mengao in Soum province, was found in Rounga village in Ouindigui commune, Loroum province. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
According to a government communiqué, “on his return from a teacher’s conference held in Djibo, [Ouedraogo] was abducted on Friday, October 25, 2019 by a group of armed individuals, at around 2 p.m.” 46 A member of the Kogleweogo self-defense militia in Ouindigui described seeing Ouedraogo’s body: We heard shots fired the night before around 6 p.m., and we waited until the morning.
Some of the population sent us a message to come...
So we went to Rounga village, some 20 of us Kogleweogo militia. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
... We saw the body two meters from the road, at the marketplace.
They had shot him in the head.
He was lying on his stomach... part of his head had been blown away.
47 April 2019 (Centre-Est): Five Teachers Killed in School The deadliest attack against teachers took place on April 26, 2019 in the village of Maytagou, Koulpélogo province, when armed men shot five teachers at the public primary school. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The victims included the principal and two teachers—Désiré Bancé, Dieudonné Sandwidi, and Pakiemdan Sabdano—as well as Alassane Yougbaré and Hamad Bouda, two teachers at the Centre à passerelle (a “bridging center” reintegrating children into the education system), which operated in one of the classrooms. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
48 A witness said that a sixth teacher was spared to be a “messenger to tell everyone in Burkina [they] don’t want anyone teaching French.” 49 The witness said that about 10 armed men arrived on motorcycles in the late afternoon, while students were still in class.
They wore military attire, and some had their faces 46 MENAPLN, Communiqué No.
19-007/MENAPLN/CAB, October 28, 2019, available at https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article92817 (accessed February 27, 2020). | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
47 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, Ouindigui, Nord region, January 26, 2020.
48 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, location withheld, February 23, 2020; MENAPLN, Communiqué No.
19- 003/MENAPLN/CAB, April 27, 2019, available at https://www.facebook.com/ministereduc.burkina/posts/1375605335926403 (accessed February 27, 2020).
49 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, location withheld, February 23, 2020.
33 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 covered with turbans. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
They spoke French, Moore, and Fulfulde.
The teachers tried to run, but were caught, and the attackers fired in the air as warning.
50 The witness recounted: When they arrived, some students fled, but others the jihadists rounded up to bring them into the classrooms... maybe 50 or so students, ages 6 to 16, were there.
... One of the teachers, Mr. Yougbaré... since he [resisted], they let him fall [in the schoolyard], and they shot him three times – in the head, stomach, and thigh. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
He was the first one they killed.
... [The attackers] gathered papers, documents, clothes, and set fire to it all inside the warehouse... Then they had the other teachers bring them their motorcycles.
...
They said, “Didn’t you hear we’d told the population that we didn’t want you to teach French?
... Didn’t you follow the TV or the radio?”...
They took the principal and two teachers in front of the warehouse... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
They took Mr. Bouda separately in front of the building with the CP1, CP2, and CE1 classrooms.
One started to shoot Mr. Bouda.
He fired three shots, and with each shot he said “Allahu Akbar.” Then three others started to shoot the principal and the two teachers—they also shot them three times in the head, stomach and thigh, also saying “Allahu Akbar.” ...
When they killed Mr. Bouda, it was in front of classrooms where the students were.
Some were watching.
The youngest were crying. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Some were watching.
The youngest were crying.
51 A student’s parent said: The next morning, I went to the school and found the five bodies on the ground... they’d been shot in the head and body.
My son [age 8] and brother’s children [ages 7 and 13] had been at school that day...
The children were traumatized...
The school was closed, and they were not able to complete the school year.
52 50 Ibid.
51 Ibid. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
52 50 Ibid.
51 Ibid.
52 Human Rights Watch interview with parent of Maytagou primary school student, Fada, Est region, March 2, 2020.
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 34 April 2019 (Sahel): Three School Construction Workers Killed On April 19, 2019, armed men killed three workers building teachers’ residences at a primary school in Djika village, Arbinda commune, Soum province.
53 A villager who was at his home, some 300 meters away, said he saw around 20 to 30 armed men entering the school. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
“They found three people at the school, and they killed them.
They were a 26-year- old contractor and two masons, ages 35 and 32,” he said.
“The next day at 6 a.m., I went to the school and saw the bodies.
They’d been shot in the head.
... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
They’d been shot in the head.
...
I also saw they had burned the school hangar [a covered area], forced the doors, burned the desks and the teachers’ offices.” 54 March 2019 (Sahel): Two Teachers Abducted, Killed On March 19, 2019, the decapitated bodies of two primary school teachers, Judicaël Ouedraogo and Al-Hassane Cheickna Sana, were found on the road near Koutougou, Soum province. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
The teachers, both men, had been abducted on March 11 while traveling by motorcycle from Kongoussi, Centre-Nord region, to Djibo, Sahel region, where they worked.
55 Ouedraogo previously taught at a primary school in the Djibo area until late 2018, when he transitioned to working for the local education authorities in Djibo. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
56 A member of the Kogleweogo self-defense militia in Koutougou recounted finding the bodies on the road: On March 18, around 6 p.m., I heard shots from the direction of the Koutougou CSPS [health center], around 800 meters from the village exit.
I thought it was the [security forces] who were shooting, but the next day between 6 and 7 a.m.... we saw two unknown bodies lying next to the CSPS, on the road. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Their [heads] were cut—they had removed the heads and 53 Human Rights Watch interview with school adminstrator from a neighboring village, Kaya, January 29, 2020; interview with witness from Djika village (Arbinda commune, Soum province, Sahel region), Djibo, February 25, 2020.
54 Human Rights Watch interview with witness from Djika village, Djibo, February 25, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
55 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, Koutougou, Soum province, Sahel region, January 26, 2020; interview with teacher from Djibo, Ouagadougou, December 10, 2019; MENAPLN, Communiqué No.
19-002/MENAPLN/CAB, March 19, 2019 (on file with Human Rights Watch).
56 Human Rights Watch interview with Rigobert Ouedraogo, victim’s father, location withheld, February 27, 2020.
35 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 placed them on the back of each body. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Both were positioned on their fronts, hands tied behind their backs, and feet also tied.
57 Another Koutougou resident, who helped with the burial, said: “They had their national IDs on them... That’s how we learned they were teachers.” 58 Rigobert Ouedraogo, Judicaël’s father, said: [Judicaël] was 28 years old and had a lot of ambition.
He wanted to continue his studies...
He was engaged to be married, and he left behind an 18-month-old daughter... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
I think they fell into an ambush intended for another vehicle...
But he had his ID card, his computer, papers that showed his profession... Maybe if he hadn’t been a teacher or worked for the state, they would have let him go.
After the attack, many teachers fled the area.
59 A teacher from the Djibo area said: “After this, all the schools of Soum province closed for two months. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
I was in Djibo when I heard, and then I took a bus to Ouagadougou... I’ve stayed here ever since.” 60 November 2017 (Nord): Three Teachers Shot, One Killed During the night of November 26, 2017, armed men attacked the residences of several high school teachers in Kain, Yatenga province, killing French and history-geography teacher Souleymane Koumaya and wounding two other teachers.
The attack provoked the flight of local government officials and the closure of several schools. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
61 Witnesses and a school official said the motive for the attack remained unclear but that they suspected the armed Islamists, primarily because of the town’s close proximity to 57 Human Rights Watch interview with Kogleweogo witness, Koutougou, February 27, 2020.
58 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, Koutougou, January 26, 2020.
59 Human Rights Watch interview with Rigobert Ouedraogo, victim’s father, location withheld, February 27, 2020. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
60 Human Rights Watch interview with teacher, Ouagadougou, December 11, 2019.
61 See Human Rights Watch, “By Day We Fear the Army, By Night the Jihadists,” pp.
21-22.
“THEIR WAR AGAINST EDUCATION” 36 areas of Mali where armed Islamist group presence was well-established.
One witness recounted: At around 10:15 p.m., I saw a few of the teachers chatting outside their house.
Souleymane was inside preparing his lessons. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Souleymane was inside preparing his lessons.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a motorcycle… [A]rmed men shot at the teachers’ house, breaking the windows.
They went inside, killing Souleymane and wounding two others.
As the armed men left, they stole two motorcycles. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
As the armed men left, they stole two motorcycles.
62 March 2017 (Sahel): Principal Killed The first reported killing of a teacher in Burkina Faso took place on March 3, 2017 in Soum province, when alleged armed Islamists fatally shot Salifou Badini, the Kourfayel primary school principal, along with another villager, Hamadoum Tamboura.
63 A witness said: I was having tea at a friend’s house, 100 meters from the school, when we heard gunshots.
... [The students] had gone out for recess.
... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
... [The students] had gone out for recess.
...
Some students were playing in the courtyard...
I saw two armed men wearing turbans enter the school courtyard on motorcycles.
They shot in the air and headed toward the principal.
... Badini was a friend of my friend.
Tamboura was a parent—I knew him, he had two students at the school.
...
They were having tea at Badini’s house, around 50 meters from the school.
... [The attackers] shot him first, then Tamboura.
... | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
...
They said [in Arabic] “La illaha illallah” before shooting five or six times in the lower abdomen.
64 Abduction and Assault Human Rights Watch documented nine attacks in which a total of 17 teachers, principals, or school employees were abducted or assaulted by presumed armed Islamists between 2018 and 2020.
Eight individuals were beaten severely; at least seven were tied up, chained, or blindfolded.
Seven were abducted for periods ranging from one day to two 62 Ibid. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
; Human Rights Watch phone interview with witness, Ouagadougou, April 26, 2018.
63 See Human Rights Watch, “By Day We Fear the Army, By Night the Jihadists,” pp.
22-23.
64 Human Rights Watch interview with witness, Sahel region, February 27, 2020.
37 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | MAY 2020 months.
Eight attacks occurred on school grounds; one principal was abducted from the road.
In six of these cases, attackers also damaged or destroyed school infrastructure or materials. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |
Four attacks were perpetrated in front of students.
In nearly all cases, armed men threatened the education professionals and ordered them to stop teaching in French or to leave the region.
January 2020 (Est): Two Teachers Abducted, Robbed, and Beaten In January 2020, around noon, armed men burst into a village school in Est region while class was in session.
65 The attackers fired shots in the air, scaring the children, who began running out of the classrooms. | https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/thematic2f/pw_2/1721909239768.pdf | https://protectingeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/HRW_war_Against_education.pdf | Burkina Faso |