Burkina Faso wants to prevent non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian aid agencies from using images of vulnerable people in a degrading, humiliating or exploitative way. The decision was formalized in a decree published last month, in which Ibrahim Traoré’s government establishes new guidelines for the activities of NGOs in the country.
According to the government’s argument, there is a crisis due to the fact that humanitarian groups, ordinarily, end up using impactful images to document crises and guarantee support from funders. According to the decree, this methodology compromises the dignity of the people photographed or filmed.
Due to the resolution, humanitarian organizations will need special authorization to use images, respecting informed consent before photographing or filming people in vulnerable situations. The government’s intention is that the beneficiaries are not presented as objects worthy of pity.
For years, Burkina Faso has faced one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world. Data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) indicate that, in the country alone, there are around 2 million people who, in recent years, have experienced internal displacement. Burkina Faso is the most complex case of the general crisis facing the Central Sahel region, which also includes Niger and Mali.
Traoré, who has been in power since 2022, has approved reforms to tighten supervision over NGOs and humanitarian organizations. According to the government’s argument, the proposal does not necessarily involve rejecting humanitarian aid, but rather avoiding the spectacle of conditions of human suffering.
In the same decree, the Traoré government determined that at least 60% of the financing intermediated by organizations must be directed to the autonomy of the people assisted.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
