MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on violations of human rights including religious freedoms in Burkina Faso

17.12.2019 - (2019/2980(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 144 of the Rules of Procedure

Kati Piri, Maria Arena
on behalf of the S&D Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0261/2019

B9‑0265/2019

European Parliament resolution on violations of human rights including religious freedoms in Burkina Faso

(2019/2980(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Partnership Agreement between the Members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part (“Cotonou Agreement”);

 

–  having regard to the Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on Human Rights Day, 10 December 2019;

 

–  having regard to the UN Security Council report on Joint Forces of the Group of Five (G5) for the Sahel on 11 November 2019;

 

–  having regard to the Statement Attributable to the Spokesperson of the High-Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations on the  attack on a church in Burkina Faso  of 1 December 2019;

 

–  having regard to the UN Secretary-General's statement regarding the attack on a mosque in northern Burkina Faso of 13 October 2019;

 

–  having regard to the Human Development Report 2019 on Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century, and in particular the report on Burkina Faso;

 

–  having regard to the Speech on behalf of High Representative Federica Mogherini at the European Parliament plenary debate on the security situation in Burkina Faso, on 17 September 2019;

 

–  having regard to the European Commission Press release announcing additional €35 million Humanitarian Aid for Africa's Sahel region. Brussels, 13 November 2019;

 

–  having regard to the UN Secretary-General's report on Joint Force of the Group of Five (G5)for the Sahel of 11 November 2019;

 

–  having regard to the Statement by the Spokesperson on the attacks in Burkina Faso Brussels, 07 November 2019;

 

–  having regard to the eighth UNICEF Burkina Faso humanitarian situation report of October 2019;

 

–  having regard to the EU human rights guidelines on non-discrimination in external action, adopted by the European Council on 18 March 2019;

 

–  having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 December 1996 and to which Burkina Faso is a State Party;

 

–  having regard to the EU Annual Report on Democracy and Human Rights in the World 2018, and in particular the Burkina Faso country update thereof, adopted by the Council on 13 May 2019;

 

–  having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, to which Burkina Faso is a signatory;

 

–  having regard to the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites of 12 September 2019;

 

–  having regard to the Constitution of the Republic of  Burkina Faso,

 

–  having regard to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights which was adopted on 27 June 1981 and entered into force on 21 October 1986;

 

–  having regard to Rule 144 of its Rules of Procedure.

 

A.  Whereas the security situation in Burkina Faso  has deteriorated rapidly since 2015; whereas, until the 15 January 2016 Ouagadougou attack that left 30 dead, Burkina Faso had remained relatively unaffected by spillover from the violence in Mali and Niger; whereas attacks from armed groups have since killed at least 700 and wounded thousands in Ouagadougou and the northern provinces, in particular in Soum Province, before spreading to the eastern and western provinces in 2018; whereas the country's increasing destabilisation poses a substantial security risk not only to Burkina Faso but to the wider region;

 

B.  Whereas the deterioration in the security situation of Burkina Faso has gradually expanded beyond the Burkinabé capital and the country’s immediate northern and eastern border regions; whereas 520 security incidents have been reported between January and November 2019 compared to 404 registered between 2015 and 2018; whereas in October 2019 alone, 52 incidents related to non-state armed groups were registered, of which nearly 70% targeted civilians and security forces;

 

C.  Whereas attacks are committed both by transnational armed groups operating from across the Malian and Nigerien borders, including Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and by domestic groups, primarily Ansarul Islam, that operate out of Burkina Faso's northern and eastern provinces;

 

D.  Whereas Burkina Faso participates in the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Mali (MINUSMA) and Sudan (UNAMID), the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP), and the G5 Sahel (G5S); whereas its participation in these missions and initiatives has made the country a primary target for non-state armed groups seeking to disrupt and discourage Burkina Faso's contribution to regional security;

E.  Whereas the violence in Burkina Faso has led to the displacement of nearly half a million people; whereas many of them are vulnerable groups and children constitute 44% of those displaced; whereas Burkina Faso hosts an additional 31,000 Malian refugees; whereas the UNHCR faces severe challenges in accessing the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees in Burkina Faso; whereas the IDPs and refugees affected by the humanitarian crisis in the region are subject to protection risks and their presence may lead to conflict with the local population over scarce natural resources if no adequate measures are taken to provide housing, employment, and food; whereas resulting resource conflicts threaten to further contribute to the cycle of violence in the country;

F.  Whereas Burkina Faso ranks among the 10 poorest states in the world; whereas instability and conflict in the country have further diminished economic opportunities, enhanced poverty, and resulted in acute food shortages; whereas these consequences are compounded by the northern region's rapid desertification and resulting water shortages, soil degradation and resource scarcity;  whereas, as a result, over 1 million people are at risk of a food crisis, 1.5 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and 150,000 children have been left without an education as affected schools have been closed;

 

G.  Whereas 85 health facilities and more than 2,000 schools have been forced to shut down, affecting respectively more than 1 million patients and 300,000 students; whereas 93 other health facilities are at their minimal operational level due to the current dire security situation;

 

H.  Whereas the government of Burkina Faso lacks the capacity to effectively implement solutions to the enormous security, social and economic challenges, and whereas some regions, in particular in the North-East of the country, are effectively cut off from the control of the central government;

 

I.  Whereas on 1 January 2019, Burkina Faso imposed a state of emergency in 14 of the country’s 45 provinces following an attack in Toéni that killed 10 gendarmes; whereas  on 11 July 2019, the Burkinabé parliament voted to extend the state of emergency until 12 January 2020; whereas this measure allows for the imposition of curfews, confiscation of weapons, restrictions on the freedom of movement, and the search of personal property and limits expressions supporting extremist though or actions;

 

J.  Whereas Burkina Faso’s population is predominately Maliki Sunni with large Christian and traditional indigenous religious minorities; whereas interreligious boundaries in Burkina Faso are fluid as followers of all religions commonly engage in syncretic practices and religious tolerance is the norm; whereas both Sunni and Christian places of worship have recently been targets of guerrilla attacks by Salafi armed groups; whereas this has contributed to increased interreligious tensions;

K.  Whereas Article 7 of Burkina Faso’s Constitution guarantees the full religious rights of the people of Burkina Faso, including the right of individuals to choose and change their religion and to practice the religion of their choice; whereas  attacks on places of worship and kidnappings continue in the Sahel region and increasingly take place in the eastern region of the country; whereas Salafi groups are responsible for the majority of religiously motivated attacks;

 

L.  Whereas the European Union directly contributes to stability in the Sahel region through the civilian EUCAP SAHEL missions in Mali and Niger, and through the military training mission EUTM Mali, as well as indirectly through Member States' participation in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and Operation Barkhane; whereas the European Union-supported G5 Sahel, a collaborative defence effort between Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, enhances the coordination of regional development and security to neutralise armed groups and diminish their attractiveness; whereas an attack on a military base in Tahoua on 11 December 2019 killed 71 Nigerien soldiers and injured 12 in the deadliest single incident in the region since 2016;

 

M.  Whereas over the last seven years the EU has mobilised more than EUR 1 billion for development programmes in Burkina. And, recently has allocated €15.7 million with a focus particularly needed for IDPs on food insecurity and malnutrition and whereas the country is one of the main beneficiaries of financial support from the European Development Fund (EUR 628 million) in addition to substantial support from the EDF funded Emergency Trust Fund (EUR 245.8 million) for the period 2016-2020;

 

N.  Whereas the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) aims to develop and consolidate democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

 

1. Firmly condemns all forms of violence, intimidation and kidnapping targeting civilians, security services, religious sites and worshipers in Burkina Faso; notes with great concern the deteriorating security situation and the increasing strength of armed groups in the country;

 

2. Extends its condolences to the families of the victims and the government of Burkina Faso; expresses its solidarity with the Burkinabe people, who face violence, extremist attacks, kidnappings, displacement and food insecurity  on a daily basis; strongly condemns extremist attempts to foster interreligious and ethnic tensions;

 

3. Calls on the Burkinabé authorities and relevant stakeholders to implement the United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites to guarantee the sanctity of worship places and the safety of worshipers;

 

4. Commends the European Union's and its Member States' strong assistance to the G5 Sahel, MINUSMA and Operation Barkhane; commends the efforts of the civilian EUCAP SAHEL missions in Mali and Niger and of the military training mission EUTM Mali; calls on the European Union to further increase its support to Burkina Faso to tackle the enormous security challenges in the country; emphasises the need for a more comprehensive and coordinated international security engagement in Burkina Faso;

 

5. Underlines that EU continued security and political assistance for the G5 Sahel-led efforts in the region is imperative, including the peace process in Mali; urges the support for the security forces in Burkina Faso be increased in order to respond to the threats of jihadist attacks and violence, and to support government control in the northern and eastern regions;

 

6. Notes that conflict, displacement and desertification impair traditional types of employment; highlights that 65% of the Burkinabé population is under 25 years of age; believes that security operations in Burkina Faso must be accompanied by locally-rooted development efforts aimed at decreasing inequality and improving infrastructure, political participation, justice provision, and economic opportunities;

 

7. Calls on the EU to work with the government of Burkina Faso to strengthen development, education, and climate change adaptation efforts to tackle poverty and prevent further radicalisation; urges the government of Burkina Faso to prioritise the fight against corruption and impunity;

 

8. Expresses particular concern over the impact of security threats to the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance and development cooperation; urges Member States and the international community to increase their humanitarian assistance to Burkina Faso, in particular through the provision of food, water, and medical services;

 

9. Calls on the government of Burkina Faso to safeguard the delivery of humanitarian assistance and food aid, in particular in areas with limited humanitarian access, and to take specific measures to reinforce actions for the prevention and management of acute malnutrition in IDP camps with particular attention for vulnerable groups, including women and children;

 

10. Urges the government of Burkina Faso to secure and facilitate livestock transhumance movements to prevent community conflicts, and to increase the availability of, and access of livestock to, food, water and care in areas with significant feed deficits;

 

11. Calls for an urgent need for a more comprehensive international effort to combat terrorism in Burkina Faso and to stop it from spreading into neighboring states;

 

12. Calls on the government of Burkina Faso to prioritise the country's security and territorial integrity over other domestic concerns, including by negotiating a moratorium with trade unions and initiate dialogue with the political exiles that fled the country after the 2014 Burkinabé uprising;

 

13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the President of the Republic of Burkina Faso, the Speaker of the Burkinabé Parliament and the African Union and its institutions.