Burkina Faso

Year-end Overview

Plan Overview

Working environment

Burkina Faso is experiencing an unprecedented and complex humanitarian crisis characterized by violent attacks, violations of human rights, weakened social bonds between some ethnic groups and increasing socio-economic disparities between northern and central regions, which have led to significant internal displacement.
 
Terrorist attacks continue to be reported on a weekly basis resulting in further population movements. Lack of humanitarian access is leaving thousands of refugees and IDPs without access to protection and basic social services. Although terrorist attacks are mainly aimed at defence and security forces, civilians and humanitarian workers have been increasingly targeted towards the end of 2019.
 
Over 490,000 people are currently displaced within Burkina Faso with the majority of the IDP population in the Sahel and Central North regions. Moreover, nearly 16,000 Burkinabe have reportedly fled to neighbouring countries. The IDP figure is anticipated to be around 950,000 by December 2020 according to OCHA, based on the Humanitarian Response Plan. 
 
Burkina Faso hosts over 26,150 refugees of whom some 25,720 Malian refugees live in and outside camp settings mainly in the arid Sahel region. Of these, some 7,700 refugees live in high-risk areas in the Soum province.
 
The Government is engaged in ensuring asylum space, despite security concerns and the declaration of a state of emergency in all border regions on the country. However, the Government’s strategy has shifted from encouraging an out-of-camp policy to the encampment of the refugee population. Ensuring access to out-of-camp refugees in some parts of the Sahel region has become increasingly difficult due to security reasons.
 

Key priorities

In 2020, UNHCR will focus on:

• the eradication of statelessness through issuance of birth certificates and nationality certificates for persons at risk of statelessness, advocacy for the adoption of a law on the status of stateless persons and the provision of capacity development to relevant authorities and other key actors;
• supporting IDPs through the provision of shelter, shelter maintenance tool kits or conditional cash for shelter;
• strengthening services for refugees with specific needs;
• Increasing refugees’ access to livelihoods and self-reliance through increased access to agricultural/livestock/fishery production.