05 May 2020
A Soldier Standing Behind ICRC Provided Equipment for Prisons, ("Prévention du Covid-19 dans les Prisons: Le CICR Fournit du Matériel au Ministère de la Justice," Lefaso.net, 14 April 2020, https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article96172)
Burkina Faso has rapidly turned into an “unprecedented humanitarian emergency” as conflicts in the Sahel region have displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the past two years, according to MSF. As the Covid-19 pandemic takes hold in the country, UNHCR has expressed alarm over “the growing insecurity in Burkina Faso, where violence is forcing thousands of people to flee their homes every day.’’
On 3 May, there were 652 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Burkina Faso, making it the most affected of the West African Sahel country. Authorities declared a state of sanitary emergency on 27 March, closed its borders, and announced a quarantine in eight cities. A week before, on 19 March, the Ministry of Justice suspended most visits in prisons, allowing only lawyers to visit clients if they respected sanitary measures.
On 3 April, the president announced the release of 1,207 detainees based on their age, state of health, amount of time served. At that time, 7,621 people were imprisoned in the country and the occupancy level in prisons, based on official capacity, was at approximately 190 percent. In 2019, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern ‘’about conditions of detention, impunity, impacts of counterterrorism measures on human rights, and actions by members of self-defence militias (Koglweogo) who are reportedly carrying out illegal arrests, detention, murder and acts of torture.’’
On 10 April, the ICRC distributed medical equipment to the country. Soap, antiseptic gel and thermometers, amongst other things, were then re-distributed by the government to prison facilities.
In the Goudoubo refugee camp, located in the northeast, attacks from armed groups forced refugees to flee in early April. A UNHCR spokesperson reported that “Some took refuge in the overcrowded sites initially reserved for the internally displaced.’’
- Médecins Sans Frontières, "Four Questions on the Unprecedented Humanitarian Emergency in Burkina Faso," 20 March 2020, https://www.msf.org/unprecedented-humanitarian-emergency-burkina-faso
- Lefaso.net, "Prévention du Covid-19 dans les Prisons: Le CICR Fournit du Matériel au Ministère de la Justice," 14 April 2020, https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article96172
- A. Zemo, "Coronavirus en Afrique: le Point de la Situation," AfricaNews, 4 May 2020, https://fr.africanews.com/2020/05/04/coronavirus-l-essentiel-de-l-info-sur-la-pandemie-en-afrique/
- AFP, "Burkina Faso Frees Prisoners to Stem Virus Spread," Daily Monitor, 3 April 2020, https://www.monitor.co.ug/News/World/Burkina-Faso-frees-prisoners-stem-virus-spread/688340-5512766-6gph40/index.html
- GardaWorld, "Burkina Faso: Authorities Declare State of Sanitary Emergency 27 March/update 5," 27 March 2020, https://www.garda.com/fr/crisis24/alertes-de-securite/327021/burkina-faso-authorities-declare-state-of-sanitary-emergency-march-27-update-5
- ONU Info, "Covid-19: l'OMS Préoccupée par l'Augmentation des Cas en Afrique de l'Ouest," 30 April 2020, https://news.un.org/fr/story/2020/04/1067802
- UNHCR, "L'insécurité au Burkina Faso Force des Milliers de Réfugiés Maliens à Quitter un Camp," 3 April 2020, https://www.unhcr.ca/fr/news/linsecurite-burkina-faso-force-milliers-refugies-maliens-quitter-camp/
- World Prison Brief, "Burkina Faso," accessed on 4 May 2020, https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/burkina-faso
- OHCHR, "UN Committee Against Torture Publishes Findings on Burkina Faso, Cyprus, Latvia, Niger, Portugal and Uzbekistan," 6 December 2019, https://www.ohchr.org/SP/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25397&LangID=E
- A Soldier Standing Behind ICRC Provided Equipment for Prisons, ("Prévention du Covid-19 dans les Prisons: Le CICR Fournit du Matériel au Ministère de la Justice," Lefaso.net, 14 April 2020, https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article96172)
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IMMIGRATION AND DETENTION-RELATED STATISTICS
Total number of immigration detainees by year
Number of immigration detainees on a given day
Top nationalities of detainees
Number of persons granted alternatives to immigration detention
Number of detained asylum seekers
Total number of detained minors
Number of detained unaccompanied minors
Number of detained accompanied minors
Number of detained stateless persons
Number of apprehensions of non-citizens
Immigration detainees as a percentage of total international migrant population
Estimated total immigration detention capacity
Number of dedicated long-term immigration detention centres
Estimated capacity of dedicated long-term immigration detention centres
Number of dedicated medium-term immigration detention centres
Number of immigration offices
Number of transit facilities
Number of criminal facilities
Number of ad hoc facilities
Number of persons removed/returned (voluntary returns and deportations)
Number of deportations/forced returns only
Percentage of persons removed in relation to total number of people placed in removal procedures
Estimated number of undocumented migrants
SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Remittances from the country
Unemployment rate amongst migrants
Detention for deterrence
Pew Global Attitudes Poll on Immigration
Immigration Index Score
World Bank Rule of Law Index
Domestic Opinion Polls on Immigration
DOMESTIC LAWS AND POLICIES
Constitutional guarantees?
Core pieces of national legislation
Additional legislation
Regulations, standards, guidelines
Immigration-status-related grounds
Non-immigration-status-related grounds providing for administrative detention in immigration legislation.
Does the country provide specific criminal penalties for immigration-related violations?
Grounds for criminal immigration-related detention/incarceration and maximum potential duration of incarceration
Has the country decriminalized immigration-related violations?
Maximum length for administrative immigration detention in law.
Longest recorded instance of immigration detention.
Maximum length of time in custody prior to issuance of a detention order
Average length of detention
Maximum length of detention for asylum-seekers
Maximum length of detention for persons detained upon arrival at ports of entry
Provision of basic procedural standards
Types of non-custodial measures
Impact of alternatives
Is the detention of vulnerable persons provided in law? Are they detained in practice?
Mandatory detention
Expedited/fast track removal
Re-entry ban
INTERNATIONAL LAW
International treaties
Ratification Year
2003
2002
2002
Individual complaints procedure
Acceptance Year
CEDAW, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1999
2005
2005
Relevant recommendations issued by treaty bodies
Recommendation Year
Committee on Migrant Workers
"§25 (b) ensure that any form of detention of migrant workers for offences against immigration law is not arbitrary and is used only as a measure of last resort;
(c) take measures to improve conditions of detention, including in detention facilities for foreign nationals, in the light of international standards."
2013
2013
Regional legal instruments
Year of Ratification (Treaty) / Transposed (Directive) / Adoption (Regulation)
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
International treaty reservations
Treaty bodies decisions on individual complaints
Regional treaty reservations
Regional judicial decisions on individual complaints
Recommendations issued by regional human rights mechanisms
Bilateral/multilateral agreements linked to readmission
Visits by special procedures of the Human Rights Council
Relevant recommendations by UN Special Procedures
INSTITUTIONAL INDICATORS
Federal or centralized governing system
Centralized or decentralized immigration authority
Custodial authority
Apprehending authorities
Detention Facility Management
Formally designated detention estate?
Types of detention facilities used in practice
Authorized monitoring institutions
Is the national human rights institution (NHRI) recognized as independent?
Does NHRI carry out visits?
Does NHRI have capacity to receive complaints?
Does NHRI publicly release reports on immigration detention?
Does national preventive mechanism (NPM) carry out visits?
Does NPM have capacity to receive complaints?
Does NPM publicly release reports on immigration detention?
Do NGOs carry out visits?
NGO capacity to receive complaints?
Do NGOs publish reports on immigration detention?
Do parliamentary organs carry out visits?
Do parliamentary organs have capacity to receive complaints?
Do parliamentary organs publicly report on their detention findings?
Do internal inspection agencies (IIAs) carry out visits?
Do IIAs have capacity to receive complaints?
Do IIAs publicly report their findings from detention inspections?
Do international and/or regional bodies (IRBs) visit immigration-related detention facilities?
Do IRBs publicly report their findings from inspections?
Types of privatisation/outsourcing
Detention contractors and other non-state entities
Estimated annual budget for detention operations
Estimated annual budgets for particular detention-related activities
Estimated cost per detainees day (in USD)
Estimated annual budget for non-custodial measures (in USD)
Estimated costs of non-custodial measures (in USD)
Does the country receive external sources of funding?
Description of foreign assistance
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