Carol Flore-Smereczniak, a United Nations, UN Official, has been expelled from Burkina Faso over a report on alleged child rights abuse.
The junta of Burkina Faso also announced that it has declared Flore-Smereczniak, the UN Resident Coordinator in the country “persona non grata.”
The child rights report, titled Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso, accused both jihadi groups and government forces of alleged violations against children.
The Children and Armed Conflict in Burkina Faso report, published in April 2025, documented 2,483 alleged violations against 2,255 children between July 2022 and June 2024, including alleged recruitment, sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
However, Burkina Faso’s junta, in a statement issued on Monday, August 18, 2025, denied the allegations, announcing that the UN official had been expelled.
The military government also condemned Flore-Smereczniak’s alleged role in the report, which they claim is “without evidence or supporting documentation” and conveys “serious and false information.”
The junta further criticized the report as a “compilation of baseless assertions and falsehoods,” asserting that it lacked investigation reports.
“This report, which resembles a compilation of baseless assertions and falsehoods, contains no appendices with copies of investigation reports or court rulings to support the alleged cases of violations against children attributed to the valiant Burkinabe fighters,” the military government added.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports this development comes as the Burkinabe junta had placed international organisations and humanitarian bodies under pressure, since seizing power in a coup.
Recall that the junta had previously declared one of Flore-Smereczniak’s predecessors, Italian official Barbara Manzi “persona non grata” in December 2022.
