HiiL and the Women’s Lawyers’ Association of Burkina Faso (AFJ-BF) have launched the country’s first fact sheet on Women’s Access to Justice. Held under the patronage of the Minister of Justice, Mr. Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, a launch event on 2 April brought together judges, police officers, customary leaders, and representatives from organisations including UNDP, Terre des Hommes, Amnesty International and Oxfam to reflect on the barriers women face in accessing justice—and what can be done to address them. The central question raised was: How can we make the justice system more inclusive and accessible to women, while respecting Burkinabè values and traditions?
The factsheet draws on data from HiiL’s 2024 Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey and real-life cases from AFJ-BF legal clinics. It highlights the barriers women face in resolving their legal problems and presents practical recommendations to address them.
For some women, seeking justice can come at a terrible cost. As one AFJ-BF lawyer in Ouahigouya put it:
If you can’t be safe at home, if those who should protect you become your tormentors, then where do you turn? Seeking help should be a given, but for too many women, it poses an even greater risk: retaliation, aggravated violence, expulsion from the home. If you had to choose between suffering in silence or losing your children, your home, your dignity, or even being banished from your family and community… what would you do?
Thérèse, a woman from northern Burkina Faso whose story features in the factsheet, faced exactly that choice. After her cousin sold the land she inherited without her consent, she tried to resolve the matter through local elders. When that failed, she turned to the courts—a decision that sparked huge resistance and threats of banishment from the village. Eventually, she was referred to a AFJ legal clinic, which connected her with a lawyer. While she awaits the court’s decision, Thérèse has already paid a high price: her place in the community.
Women like Thérèse are not alone. Yet most remain invisible within the justice system.
The Justice Gap
The HiiL 2024 Justice Needs and Satisfaction survey reveals that women in Burkina Faso experience a wider justice gap than men. This is not due to better protection, but rather greater vulnerability stemming from a lack of education, financial means, and deeply rooted social norms. 44% of women are illiterate, and many do not report legal problems simply because they do not recognise them as such, or because they lack the means and support to act. They are also more likely to abandon their pursuit of justice when solutions are inaccessible, unaffordable, or socially dangerous.
The new fact sheet sets out seven practical recommendations to make justice systems work better for women. These include:
- Raising awareness and providing training—especially for women—on their rights and how to access justice.
- Making justice services more accessible, including translating legal texts into local languages and organising open days at courts.
- Supporting services such as shelters, legal clinics, and one-stop centres where women can receive help and share experiences.
- Promoting family court judges to help build a more inclusive judicial environment.
- Working with service providers and customary authorities to raise awareness and improve how legal problems faced by women are addressed.
HiiL and AFJ-BF will continue working closely to bring these recommendations to life. Building on the forum’s discussions, they will engage in dialogue with customary authorities and judicial actors to ensure women’s rights are upheld—particularly in the context of the 2025 justice reform, which seeks to formally integrate customary justice into the national system.
Read more about our work in Burkina Faso here.
