Burkina Faso
The Republic of Burkina Faso has an estimated population of 16.3 million (UN, 2010). The capital is Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso has an area of 274,200 sq km (105,870 sq miles). The main languages are French and indigenous languages.
Burkina Faso became independent in 1960 from France. In the 1970s and 1980s, the country was devastated by repeated military coups. Multiparty elections were introduced in the beginning of the 1990s. Burkina Faso has very limited resources and is ranked by the UN as the world's third poorest country in the world.
The government has made efforts to improve gender equality by enacting new legislation, which gives same rights to men and women. Despite this, women are still discriminated against and their role is constricted to wife and mother.
- Burkina Faso ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (The Maputo Protocole) on the 9th of June 2006.
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was ratified by Burkina Faso on the 14th of October 1987
- Burkina Faso has not yet adopted a National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325).
- There are no current or former UN peacekeeping mandates in Burkina Faso.