Burkina Faso is abolitionist since 31 May 2018, when the National Assembly adopted a new Criminal Code abolishing the death penalty for all ordinary crimes. A new Constitution, which provides for the abolition of capital punishment altogether, is also being prepared.
While Burkina Faso has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1999, it has yet to ratify its Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
26 February – 1 March 2019: Hon. Reine Sakandé, Member of the National Assembly of Burkina Faso and of the ECOWAS Parliament, and Chairwoman of PGA’s National Group in Burkina Faso, attended the 7th World Congress against the Death Penalty, organized by Ensemble contre la peine de mort in Brussels (Belgium).
1-2 June 2018: In partnership with Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and Culture pour la paix et la justice (CPJ), PGA organized a regional parliamentary seminar entitled “Abolition of the death penalty in Africa: the role of parliamentarians”, in Kinshasa (DRC). This event took place on the day following the historic vote of the Burkinabe National Assembly to abolish the death penalty and was attended by Hon. Reine Sakandé, PGA Member, who committed to facilitate the adoption of the new Constitution and to call on the government to ratify the Second Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty (ICCPR-OP2).
19-20 December 2016: PGA’s partners Ensemble contre la peine de mort (ECPM) and the Federation of Actions of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT) organised a workshop on the abolition of the death penalty in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), which many PGA Members from West Africa attended. Hon. Reine Sakandé, PGA Member, committed to the fact that “in 2017, Burkina Faso will abolish the death penalty”.