Ouagadougou — A new initiative by the Center for the Quality of Law and Justice (CQDC) seeks to improve access to justice for inmates in seven detention facilities across Burkina Faso. The project, titled ‘Access to Justice for People in Detention’, was launched in February 2024 and is set to run for 23 months.
According to Burkina Information Agency, the project manager, the effort is in response to significant overcrowding in the nation’s prisons, which currently hold 8,369 inmates despite having a capacity of only 5,228. The project focuses on the facilities in Banfora, Fada N’Gourma, Ouahigouya, Ouagadougou, Koudougou, Bobo Dioulasso, and Kaya, where more than half of Burkina Faso’s prison population is housed.
The project includes providing legal assistance to detainees through legal clinics staffed by trained prison lawyers. It also involves collaborating with judicial actors to identify and address systemic challenges in the administration of justice. Geoffroy Yogo, representing the Minister of Justice, highlighted that poor conditions and a lack of awareness among inmates about their rights further complicate efforts to protect these rights effectively.
Furthermore, the initiative plans to promote alternatives to detention, reflecting a broader penal policy shift encouraged by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the Head of State. This policy aims to substitute community service for incarceration for non-dangerous offenders. This approach is part of the ‘Justice and Human Rights’ sectoral policy aiming to ensure that by 2027, access to justice is a guaranteed right for all individuals in the country.
