The Burkina Faso government recently took a step forward in July 2025 by releasing five journalists and a human rights activist who had been forcibly conscripted into the military after criticizing the military junta. While this release marks a positive shift, it also highlights the ongoing plight of others who remain unaccounted for, some since as early as 2024.
On March 24, 2024, in Ouagadougou, the capital, authorities arrested Guezouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba, and Phil Roland Zongo, all members of the Association des journalistes du Burkina (AJB), along with Luc Pagbelguem, a journalist from the private television channel BF1. Their crime? Speaking out against the junta’s media restrictions. By April 2, a video surfaced on social media showing Sanogo, Ouoba, and Pagbelguem in military uniforms, raising alarms about their forced enlistment. Phil Roland Zongo’s conscription was only publicly acknowledged and confirmed upon his release.
Kalifara Séré, a commentator for BF1 TV, disappeared on June 18, 2024, after a meeting with members of the Conseil supérieur de la communication (CSC), the media regulatory body in Burkina Faso. The CSC had questioned him about a comment casting doubt on the authenticity of photographs featuring the head of state. In October 2024, authorities admitted that Séré had been conscripted, alongside two other journalists, Serge Oulon and Adama Bayala. The whereabouts of Oulon and Bayala remain unknown.
On November 29, 2023, plainclothes agents claiming to be national intelligence officers abducted Lamine Ouattara, a member of the Mouvement burkinabè des droits de l’homme et des peuples (MBDHP), from his home. Relatives later confirmed that he had also been forcibly conscripted.
Human Rights Watch has documented how the junta has exploited a broad emergency law to silence critics by conscripting journalists, human rights activists, dissidents, and even magistrates.
While governments have the authority to conscript civilians for national defense, such actions must comply with transparency and due process. Civilians should be informed of their service duration and given the chance to challenge their conscription. The Burkina Faso government must take immediate action to release all remaining detainees and end the use of conscription as a tool to suppress dissent.
