Constitution of Burkina Faso

The Constitution of Burkina Faso was adopted and promulgated in June 1991 and was later amended in January 1997 and April 2000. The following provisions in the constitution related to children:

• Article 2: “The protection of life, safety, and physical integrity are guaranteed. Slavery, slave practices, inhuman and cruel, degrading and humiliating treatment, physical and moral torture, mistreatment inflicted upon children and all forms of deprecation of man are forbidden and punished by law.”
• Article 23: “The family is the basic unit of society. The state owes it protection. Marriage is founded on the free consent of the man and of the woman. All discrimination founded on race, colour, religion, ethnicity, caste, social origin, or fortune is forbidden in the matter of marriage. Children are equal in rights and in duties within their familial relations. The parents have the natural right and the duty to bring up and to educate their children. They must give them respect and assistance.”
• Article 24: “The state works to promote the rights of the child.”