Human Rights Watch has condemned the decision of Burkina Faso’s military government to expel UN representative Carole Flore-Smereczynski and declare her persona non grata, urging the junta to cooperate with the United Nations instead of “covering up abuses.”
The expulsion of the highest-ranking UN representative in Burkina Faso comes after the release of a new UN report on violations committed against children in the country.
Flore-Smereczynski is the second senior UN official expelled by the junta, following the expulsion of Barbara Manzi in 2022 — a move Human Rights Watch said “highlights the authorities’ growing intolerance of independent scrutiny.”
A spokesperson for the military council accused the UN official of involvement in preparing the April report, which documented the impact of Burkina Faso’s armed conflict on children.
The authorities rejected the report’s findings, which attributed responsibility to Burkina Faso, pro-junta militias, and armed Islamist groups opposing the government.
The report documented 2,483 grave violations against 2,255 children, including killings, abductions, and the recruitment or use of children by armed groups and security forces, during the period from July 2002 to June 2024.