Burkina Faso: criminal records and nationality certificates are now issued online 📃 🇧🇫

Cliquez ici pour lire en français

Burkina Faso is making steady progress on digitizing its public administration. The country has built dedicated platforms for issuing criminal records and nationality certificates online — documents that previously required an in-person visit to the courthouse. According to data presented at the National Forum on the Digitalization of Justice, more than 600,000 criminal records and nearly 70,000 nationality certificates have reportedly been issued through these systems.

Results presented at a national forum 📊🏛️

Ouagadougou hosted the National Forum on the Digitalization of Justice on June 2–3, 2026 — a gathering designed to assess how far the country has come in modernizing its judicial infrastructure.

According to data presented at the event, more than 600,000 criminal records have been issued nationwide through government-deployed digital platforms, while approximately 70,000 nationality certificates have reportedly been generated through these tools.

The digitalization push is also expanding to other areas of the public sector. In February 2026, nearly 2,000 documents were issued through the digital service dedicated to the Commercial and Personal Property Credit Register (RCCM), Burkina Faso’s business and collateral registry — a sign of gradual broadening beyond the justice sector.

Local languages at the heart of the strategy 🌍🗣️

To drive adoption, authorities are working to progressively integrate local languages into the various administrative platforms. The move is designed to make these tools genuinely accessible to citizens who are less comfortable with French or standard digital interfaces — a particularly important consideration in a country with significant linguistic diversity.

Persistent gaps between urban and rural areas 📡⚠️

Despite this progress, the digital divide remains a tangible reality. Data from the National Forum shows a stark gap: 72% digital service access in urban areas, compared to just 27% in rural zones.

To address this imbalance, the government has announced plans to expand cases numériques — community digital hubs equipped to provide access to online public services — to the country’s most remote areas.

Digitalization is a tool, not a guarantee 🚀📌

Online access to judicial documents is a concrete step forward — for those who are already connected. But as long as the urban-rural divide remains unaddressed, a significant portion of the population will remain on the margins of these services. For Burkina Faso, as for many African countries, the question isn’t just whether these platforms exist — it’s whether they can actually reach everyone.

Would you rather handle your administrative paperwork online or in person at the courthouse? Let us know in the comments.