21
ministerial departments to include the said recommendations in their
sectoral agendas. It also expressed the need to establish a link between the
national social protection policy and concerns of the elderly.
Social exclusion of persons accused of witchcraft, who are often elderly
people is a denial of their fundamental human rights, with undesirable
consequences both on socio-economic development and from the point of
view of the world’s perception of Burkina Faso in terms of protection of
human rights. To encourage people to abandon social exclusion of people
accused of witchcraft, a Social Dialogue Day was organized. It brought
together traditional chiefs from Passoré province, civil society actors and the
government at the palace of His Majesty the Naba Sigri of Yako. This activity
offered the Government the opportunity to launch an appeal for greater
involvement of traditional chiefs in the fight against social exclusion.
Furthermore, to enhance the protection of the elderly, the Direction générale
de la solidarité nationale provided technical and material support to contact
groups for seniors, constituted by communicators, for the organization of an
activity entitled “Seventy-two (72) hours of grandparents” in Ouagadougou.
Caring for victims of disasters and humanitarian crises
With regard to management of disasters and humanitarian crises, the 6th of
session of the Conseil national de secours d’urgence et de réhabilitation
(CONASUR) was held on 21 February 2013. The general objective of this
session was to discuss the status of implementation of the recommendations
of the 5th session, take stock of the management of disasters during the year
2012 in Burkina Faso and adopt the 2013 programme of activities. The
recommendations made during the 5th session were:
- the insertion of a budget line for the construction of a headquarters for
CONASUR in the 2013 priority investment programme by the Ministry of
Economy and Finance;
-
capitalization of the plans of action and activity reports of all the actors
involved
in
the
prevention
humanitarian crises;
and
management
of
disasters
and