Burkina Faso’s Council of Ministers  adopted a draft law on April 24 to create a 100,000-strong military reserve by the end of 2026. Defense Minister Célestin Simporé framed the move as a way to rapidly mobilize citizens to respond to security threats and “embed Patriotic Defense within a logic of citizen participation.” On face value, adding tens of thousands of soldiers would appear to bolster national security, but in  Burkina Faso it also risks accelerating an already serious human rights crisis. Burkina Faso’s military already  relies on tens of thousands of civilian auxiliaries known as the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie, VDPs). In several reports, Human Rights Watch has documented how VDPs have  committed numerous grave abuses, including summary executions, looting, and forced displacement of minority communities. Expanding this model risks replicating and multiplying these harms.…