Burkina Faso Protection Analysis Update

The Protection Analysis Update recently published by the Protection Cluster in Burkina Faso covers the period between the months of April and June 2021. 

The second quarter of 2021 saw an unprecedented escalation in violence, mainly targeting civilian populations. An increase in serious rights human rights violations and abuse has been observed in the North, East, Center North and Sahel. The country experienced on the night of 4 to 5 June, the deadliest attack since 2015, committed against the village of Solhan (Sahel region) and having killed more than 132 civilians, including children and women.

The displacement flow as well as protection incidents have increased beyond the response capacities of protection actors. 86 civilians were killed in 105 security incidents between 1 January and 31 March and between 1 April and 14 June, 298 civilians were killed in 115 security incidents, an increase of almost 250% of civilians killed between the first and the second trimester. According to the protection monitoring data, 735 protection incidents were documented in the second quarter compared to 427 incidents in quarter 1 of the year. As of 30 June, the country had a total figure of 1,312,071 internally displaced persons.

Growing insecurity and loss of livelihoods during displacement affect women and girls as well as men and boys differently. While the threat of forced recruitment into armed groups weighs more on men and boys, problems of sex for survival is becoming a common negative coping mechanism for women and girls.