Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger: women’s rights under military transitions, 2021 to 2026

Between 2021 and 2026, the military-led authorities of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger dissolved every political party in all three countries, extended their own transitions to five years or more, and left ECOWAS on 29 January 2025. In Burkina Faso alone, 1,174 associations were suspended or dissolved between mid-April and mid-June 2026, including groups working on women’s rights and gender. In Niger, about 100 to 140 of more than 4,000 NGOs were allowed to keep working in November 2025. Activist Rokiatou Doumbia has been held in Mali since March 2023 and was sentenced in August 2026 to seven years in prison. UN data show 2,307 schools closed in Mali and at least 4,100 in Burkina Faso, and an IRC study found that more than 55% of GBV survivors supported in early 2025 lost access to care after funding cuts.

Content note: this article mentions sexual violence and killings of civilians.

Context

The three Central Sahel states have faced armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for more than a decade. Millions of people have been displaced. Women and girls carry a heavy share of this crisis: abductions, rape, forced marriage, closed schools and lost livelihoods.

Since 2020, soldiers have taken power in all three countries. In Mali, Colonel Assimi Goïta led coups in 2020 and 2021 and was sworn in as transitional president in June 2021 [2]. Burkina Faso saw two coups in 2022: in January, when President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was removed, and in September, when Captain Ibrahim Traoré took power [8][18]. In Niger, the military ousted elected president Mohamed Bazoum on 26 July 2023 [6].

The three governments say they are rebuilding the state and fighting terrorism. Many measures they adopted, however, have narrowed the space in which women’s organisations, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders work. This article sets out the documented facts. It relies on UN bodies, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), CIVICUS, press freedom groups and national and international media. Where sources disagree, we say so.

Cases and events, 2021 to 2026

2021

• May–June 2021, Mali. Colonel Goïta led a second coup and was sworn in as transitional president in June 2021 [2].
• 2021, Mali. Women held 15% of central-service director posts and 11% of ambassadorships, according to the Institute for Security Studies [46].

2022

• January 2022, Burkina Faso. Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba removed President Kaboré. The African Union suspended Burkina Faso on 31 January 2022 [8].
• 17 March 2022, Mali. RFI and France 24 were cut off after the government accused them of “false allegations” of abuses by the army [20].
• March 2022, Moura, Mali. During a five-day military operation, more than 500 people were killed, mostly by summary execution, according to the UN human rights office. At least 58 women and girls were raped or subjected to other sexual violence. The UN report was published in May 2023 [36].
• 30 September 2022, Burkina Faso. Second coup. Party and group activities were suspended “temporarily” [4].
• November 2022, Burkina Faso. The Transitional Legislative Assembly (ALT) had 12 women out of 71 members, about 17% [47].
• 21 November 2022, Mali. The government banned organisations receiving funds, materials or technical support from France, including groups working on food aid, health, water and human rights. CIVICUS called it a “total violation” of freedom of association [11].
• 3 December 2022, Burkina Faso. RFI was suspended [21].

2023

• 12–20 January 2023, Arbinda, Burkina Faso. Armed men abducted women collecting food near Arbinda. On 20 January, 66 women and 4 babies were found in Tougouri. Early estimates had ranged from about 50 to 61 [39].
• 27–30 January 2023, Mali. Aminata Dicko, president of Association Protection Sahel, briefed the UN Security Council. Mali’s foreign minister questioned her credibility; she faced a smear campaign, and on 30 January a pro-army group filed a complaint against her for defamation and “high treason”. The government denied any reprisal [35].
• 13 March 2023, Bamako, Mali. Rokiatou Doumbia, known as “Rose vie chère”, was arrested in her shop after a video criticising the cost of living and power cuts [33][34].
• 13 April 2023, Burkina Faso. A general mobilisation decree allowed most adults to be called up for military service [27].
• May 2023, Mali. Women held 42 of 147 seats (29%) in the National Transitional Council (CNT), just under the 30% quota of Law 052 of 2015. They held 6 of 28 government posts and 11 of 69 seats on the constitution drafting commission [46].
• 26 July 2023, Niger. Coup. The constitution was suspended and party activities were halted. Former president Bazoum and his wife Hadiza have been held since then [6][32].
• 2 August 2023, Mali. Ms Doumbia was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine for “incitement to rebellion” [34].
• 3 August 2023, Niger. RFI and France 24 were blocked [22].
• 16 September 2023. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed the charter of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) [9].
• 30 September 2023, Niamey, Niger. Journalist and blogger Samira Sabou was taken from her mother’s home by plainclothes men who hooded her. Her whereabouts were unknown until 7 October. On 11 October she was charged with supplying “intelligence to a foreign power” and released provisionally [52][53][30]. On 3 October, another woman, Samira Ibrahim, received a suspended sentence over a Facebook post [31].
• November–December 2023, Burkina Faso. At least 14 critics received conscription orders. On 1 December, Dr Daouda Diallo of the Collective Against Impunity and Community Stigmatization was abducted in Ouagadougou and later seen in uniform. On 6 December, a court ruled the conscription of two Balai Citoyen activists unlawful, but they were still sent [26][27].
• 20 December 2023, Mali. The Observatory for Elections and Good Governance was dissolved [10].

2024

• 28 January 2024. The three governments announced their exit from ECOWAS [9].
• 29 January 2024, Niger. The Maison de la Presse, an umbrella body for media groups, was suspended [31][6].
• February–March 2024, Mali. Kaoural Renouveau (28 February), the CMAS movement (6 March) and the students’ association AESEM (13 March) were dissolved [10].
• 24 March 2024, Burkina Faso. Journalists Guezouma Sanogo, Boukari Ouoba and Luc Pagbelguem were detained. A video on 2 April showed them in uniform [28].
• 10–11 April 2024, Mali. A decree suspended all political parties and associations “until further notice”. The media regulator told outlets not to cover their activities [10].
• 25 April 2024, Burkina Faso. BBC Afrique and Voice of America were suspended for two weeks over coverage of an HRW report on the killing of 223 civilians [23].
• May 2024, Burkina Faso. A revised charter extended the transition by 60 months from 2 July 2024 and replaced party quotas in the ALT with “patriotism” as the only criterion [7].
• 29 May and 12 June 2024, Niger. Prison visits by human rights groups were suspended, and prison terms for online defamation were restored [31].
• June 2024, Burkina Faso. Journalists Kalifara Séré, Serge Oulon and Adama Bayala went missing; in October the authorities said they had been conscripted [27][30].
• July 2024, Mali. Ms Doumbia was acquitted on appeal in the first case but kept in detention on new charges [34].
• August 2024, Burkina Faso. At least seven prosecutors and judges were conscripted [27]. In Mali, LCI (23 August) and TV5Monde (5 September) were suspended [24].
• November 2024, Niger. The French NGO ACTED and its local partner APBE lost their authorisation to operate, with no reason given [14]. In Mali, Joliba TV News lost its licence from 26 November [25].
• 3 December 2024, Niger. Activist Moussa Tchangari was arrested after criticising NGO closures [31].
• 13 December 2024, Mali. A new Penal Code criminalised sexual harassment and broadened the definition of rape. A dedicated GBV bill was still not adopted [48].

2025

• 29 January 2025. The exit of the three states from ECOWAS took effect [9].
• 4 February 2025, Niger. The ICRC was ordered to close its offices [15].
• March 2025, Burkina Faso. Five leaders of the SENS movement were abducted; Idrissa Barry has been missing since 18 March [29][30].
• 26 March 2025, Niger. General Abdourahamane Tiani was sworn in under a transition charter setting a “flexible” five-year transition. All parties were dissolved [5].
• 13 May 2025, Mali. A decree dissolved all political parties. UN experts said its “vague and broad phrasing opens the door to arbitrary arrests” [1].
• 16 June 2025, Burkina Faso. Eleven foreign NGOs lost their authorisation, including DIGNITY, the Danish Institute against Torture [16]. In July, a new law on associations was signed; within a month, 21 rights groups lost their authorisation [17].
• 28 June 2025, Niger. A 194-member Consultative Council for the Refoundation was installed, with no legislative power. We found no public count of its women members [49].
• 3–10 July 2025, Mali. The CNT granted Goïta a five-year presidential term, renewable “as many times as necessary”, without elections [2].
• August 2025, Mali and Burkina Faso. Former prime minister Moussa Mara was arrested in Mali on 1 August and later sentenced to two years, one of them to be served [54]. Burkina expelled the UN Resident Coordinator after a UN report on child rights violations [29].
• 22 September 2025. The three states announced their withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court [41].
• October 2025, Burkina Faso. Five magistrates, a lawyer and a former prosecutor general were abducted in Ouagadougou [29].
• November 2025. In Niger, NGOs that had not published 2024 accounts were suspended. CIVICUS reports about 100 groups authorised; RFI reported about 140 [12][13]. In Burkina, all NGOs were ordered to move their accounts to a state-controlled bank [18].

2026

• 29 January 2026, Burkina Faso. All political parties were dissolved by decree; the ALT passed the law on 9 February [3][4].
• 15 April 2026, Burkina Faso. 118 NGOs and associations were dissolved with no stated reason [17][18].
• June 2026, Burkina Faso. A further 245 associations were suspended from 11 June, including groups working on women’s and gender promotion, for a total of 1,174 since mid-April [19].
• 18 and 24 June 2026. Niger, then Mali and Burkina Faso, formally notified the UN of their ICC withdrawal, effective one year later [42].
• 25 July 2026, Niger. Mohamed and Hadiza Bazoum remain detained in Niamey, never brought before a judge [32].
• 17 August 2026, Mali. The Bamako Court of Appeal sentenced Ms Doumbia to ten years, three suspended, for “criminal conspiracy” and “undermining the credibility of the State”. Her lawyers plan to appeal [33][34].

What the data show

Sexual violence. The UN Secretary-General’s 2026 report verified 9,788 cases of conflict-related sexual violence worldwide in 2025 [37][38]. In Mali, the UN verified sexual violence against 22 girls aged 14 to 17, and service providers registered cases affecting 45 women and 16 girls. The report says JNIM raped at least 100 women and girls in Burkina Faso and Mali, and that girls as young as 11 were held in sexual slavery. In northern and central Mali, 72% of localities had no survivor services because of funding cuts [37]. These are verified minimums, not prevalence figures. The report gives no figures for Niger.

Services. The IRC found that across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, over 55% of GBV survivors it supported in early 2025 lost continued access to care. Services stopped for three to five months. In Ménaka, Mali, nearly 90% of survivors’ cases were awaiting full support [40].

Girls’ schooling. In Central Sahel, closures rose from 8,222 to 8,452 in the year to September 2025. UNICEF says adolescent girls are often the first to drop out and the last to return, with higher risks of child marriage and early pregnancy [51]. A 2020 study cited by UNICEF found girls in crisis areas of Mali and Burkina Faso 2.5 times more likely than boys to leave school [43].

Women in transition bodies. Mali’s CNT reached 29% women, below its own 30% legal quota [46]. Burkina’s ALT had about 17% in 2022 [47]. Niger’s advisory council has no published gender data [49].

What the law says, and the gaps

All three states have ratified the Maputo Protocol. Its Article 9 guarantees women equal participation in political life, and Article 11 requires protection of women in armed conflict. The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance treats unconstitutional changes of government as grounds for sanctions. The African Charter and the ICCPR protect freedom of association and expression. Amnesty notes that Burkina’s own constitution still guarantees freedom of association [18].

The gaps are clear. Party dissolutions removed the main legal route for women to be nominated and elected. Burkina’s 2024 charter dropped quota-based seats [7]. Broad offences such as “undermining the credibility of the State” have been used against women who criticised living conditions [33]. Conscription has been used against critics even after courts ruled it unlawful [27]. Rules on NGO accounts and authorisations hit small women’s groups hardest, as they rarely have the staff to meet new reporting duties [12][19]. Mali still has no comprehensive GBV law [48]. Withdrawal from the ICC reduces options for survivors of rape and sexual slavery, though ICC investigations in Mali continue for now [37][41].

What RFLD asks for

1. Release Rokiatou Doumbia, Hadiza Bazoum and all people detained for peaceful expression, and drop the charges against Samira Sabou.
2. Stop using conscription against critics, and disclose the whereabouts of every missing journalist, lawyer and activist, including Serge Oulon and Idrissa Barry.
3. Reverse the dissolution and suspension of associations, and give women’s groups a simple, free procedure to renew their status.
4. Restore a legal framework for political parties and a timetable for elections, with a binding gender quota of at least 30%, then parity.
5. Publish the gender composition of all transitional bodies, including Niger’s Consultative Council.
6. Adopt Mali’s GBV bill, and fund one-stop centres in conflict areas through national budgets, not only donors.
7. Reopen schools safely, with targeted measures to bring girls back, and protect schools from attack.
8. Reconsider ICC withdrawal and cooperate with the African Commission and UN mechanisms on sexual violence cases.

RFLD tools you can use today

• Check national laws: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger pages of Women’s Rights Laws by Country.
• Track women in power: Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger on the Women in Leadership Tracker.
• Use African mechanisms: RFLD ACDEG Hub and RFLD AU Mechanisms Hub.
• Learn and advocate: Governance, Civic Space and Protection, Peace and Security and the free course Civic Space, Democracy and Digital Advocacy.
• Stay safe online: The African Digital Safety Compendium and Before you block.
• Support survivors: Sexual violence in Africa and the Survivor Support Toolkit.
• Share the Maputo Protocol in Zarma and Hausa, and follow reviews with the CEDAW and UPR calendar and the Maputo Barometer 2026.

Closing

Security matters to every woman in the Sahel. So do the right to speak, to organise and to be elected. The record of the past five years shows that these rights have been cut back step by step, often through administrative decisions that draw little attention. Women’s organisations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger keep working under hard conditions. RFLD stands with them and will keep documenting, in good faith and with facts, until their rights under the Maputo Protocol are respected.

References

1. UN human rights experts (OHCHR), “Mali: Dissolution of political parties a step in the wrong direction, warn UN experts”, May 2025, reliefweb.int
2. Al Jazeera, “Mali military chief granted renewable five-year presidential term”, 4 July 2025, aljazeera.com
3. AllAfrica, “Burkina Faso Junta Dissolves All Political Parties”, 30 January 2026, allafrica.com
4. AllAfrica, “West Africa: Dissolution of Political Parties Deepens Democratic Erosion”, 12 March 2026, allafrica.com
5. International IDEA, “Niger – March 2025”, Democracy Tracker, 2025, idea.int
6. Amnesty International, “Niger: ‘Threatened and brought to heel'”, March 2025, amnesty.org
7. Al Jazeera, “Burkina Faso extends military rule by five years”, 26 May 2024, aljazeera.com
8. Al Jazeera, “AU suspends Burkina Faso after coup as envoys head for talks”, 31 January 2022, aljazeera.com
9. AllAfrica, “West Africa: Sahel States Exit Ecowas, Launch Regional Passport and Joint Military”, 6 February 2025, allafrica.com
10. Human Rights Watch, “Mali: Junta Suspends Political Parties, Associations”, 12 April 2024, hrw.org
11. CIVICUS, “Mali: Reverse ban on organisations receiving funds from France”, November 2022, civicus.org
12. CIVICUS, “Niger: Reverse the suspension of civil society organisations”, November 2025, civicus.org
13. RFI via AllAfrica, “Niger: Le ministère de l’Intérieur suspend les activités de nombreuses ONG et associations”, 18 November 2025, fr.allafrica.com
14. AllAfrica, “Niger: L’ONG française Acted perd son autorisation d’opérer au pays”, 14 November 2024, fr.allafrica.com
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19. AFP via La Libre, “Burkina: nouvelles suspensions d’associations, plus de 1.100 concernées depuis mi-avril”, 12 June 2026, lalibre.be
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27. Human Rights Watch, “Burkina Faso: Conscription Used to Punish Prosecutors, Judges”, 21 August 2024, hrw.org
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31. Human Rights Watch, “Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Niger”, 10 October 2025, hrw.org
32. Africanews, “Lawyers call for former president to be freed three years after coup”, 25 July 2026, africanews.com
33. AllAfrica, “Mali: Columnist, Activist Jailed for Seven Years After Three-Year Detention”, 21 August 2026, allafrica.com
34. Amnesty International, “Mali: Detained and convicted activists must be released” (Urgent Action AFR 37/1382/2026), 1 September 2026, amnesty.org
35. ISHR End Reprisals, “Aminata Dicko”, undated case file (events of January–July 2023), endreprisals.ishr.ch
36. UN News, “Moura: Over 500 killed by Malian troops, foreign military personnel in 2022 operation”, 12 May 2023, news.un.org
37. UN Secretary-General, “Conflict-related sexual violence” (S/2026/321), 21 April 2026, un.org
38. AllAfrica, “Africa: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Cases More Than Doubled in 2025, UN Warns”, 1 June 2026, allafrica.com
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40. International Rescue Committee, “New IRC data shows thousands of women and girls at risk as aid cuts cripple gender-based violence services in West Africa”, 5 November 2025, rescue.org
41. Human Rights Watch, “Sahel Countries’ ICC Withdrawal Endangers Civilians”, 24 September 2025, hrw.org
42. JURIST, “Amnesty International warns of waning rights for victims as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger exit ICC”, July 2026, jurist.org
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50. GCPEA, “Education under Attack 2026: Niger”, 2026, protectingeducation.org
51. UNICEF Burkina Faso, “L’éducation en crise : les fermetures d’écoles ont presque doublé en cinq ans en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre”, 10 September 2025, unicef.org
52. Committee to Protect Journalists, “Niger journalist Samira Sabou arrested by unidentified men”, October 2023, cpj.org
53. Front Line Defenders, “Samira Sabou is provisionally released”, October 2023, frontlinedefenders.org
54. Amnesty International, “Mali: Authorities must immediately release former prime minister Moussa Mara and stop crackdown on civil and political rights”, October 2025, amnesty.org