CHAPTER THREE: DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL GOVERNANCE
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•
Provide universal access to the public media outside electoral campaigns
(government, CSOs, political parties).
2 - Actions and measures to enhance the effectiveness of human rights:
•
Promote human rights and their ownership by Burkina Faso citizens by
pursuing and intensifying education on citizenship and human rights in the
formal and nonformal education system (CNDH, human rights
associations, national education bodies).
•
Organise regular, mass media information and sensitisation campaigns on
human rights, including written and audiovisual media; organise tours of
mobile cinemas and theatres; and establish information and documentation
centres on human rights (CNDH, private and public media, CSC).
•
Develop training modules for the defence and security forces, and judges,
on respect for and the protection of human rights (CNDH, human rights
associations, NGOs, government).
•
Make judicial rulings on pending cases so as to remove the stigma that
taints the court systems.
Objective 4:
Separate powers, protect the independence of the
judiciary and develop an efficient Parliament
i.
Summary of the CSAR
231.
Separation and balance of powers. The constitution of Burkina Faso
proclaims the principle of separation of executive, legislative and judicial
powers. However, the fact that the drafters of the constitution were inspired by
the semi-presidential system set out in the French constitution of the Fifth
Republic should not overshadow the breakdown of the balance of powers in
favour of the president of Burkina Faso, who has a considerable influence on
state power in an environment in which institutional checks and balances are
relatively weak. Nevertheless, it can be accepted that a presidential regime is
the form of government most suited to young states such as Burkina Faso,
where the nation is still under construction or in the process of consolidation.
232.
Independence and protection of an efficient Parliament. The constitution
of 2 June 1991 stipulates in Article 84 that the National Assembly enacts laws,
consents to taxes and controls government actions. The constitution also
clearly regulates the relationship between government and the National
Assembly. However, such relationship is marked by a profound imbalance that
results in an asymmetric relationship between the Executive and Parliament,
which generally favours the Executive.
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