UN Human Rights Office concerned over killing civilians in Burkina Faso

Spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office Marta Hurtado expressed concern on Friday over reports of the killing of large numbers of civilians including children in several villages in Burkina Faso. In a statement issued from Geneva, Hurtado also noted that at least two international media outlets had been temporarily suspended after reporting on some of these incidents. She said that the killing of civilians in the Yatenga and Soum provinces of northern Burkina Faso in recent months took place in a general context of fighting between armed groups and Burkinabe forces. Hurtado stated that UN Human Rights Office had been unable to independently verify these reports due to a lack of access. She called on the transitional authorities in Burkina Faso to investigate these allegations of such serious violations and abuses by various actors to hold perpetrators accountable and to uphold the rights of victims to truth justice and reparation. "The fight against impunity and the pursuit of accountability are ess ential to ensure people's confidence in the rule of law and social cohesion," Hurtado said. She further stressed that freedom of expression including the right to access information is crucial in any society and even more so in the context of transition in Burkina Faso and called for an immediate end to such restrictions on media freedom and civic space. Source: Kuwait News Agency