Burkina Faso has taken a historic step in modernizing its legal framework for families with the unanimous adoption of a new Code of Persons and the Family (CPF) by the Transitional Legislative Assembly (ALT) on Monday, September 1, 2025.
This sweeping reform comes more than three decades after the previous legislation, updating family law to better reflect contemporary social, cultural, and economic realities.
Comprising 1,113 articles structured across 17 titles and 56 chapters, the new code aims to harmonize Burkinabe family law while ensuring stronger protections for women, children, and the family unit.
Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala hailed the measure as “a historic reform” that combines legal innovation with respect for cultural values, demonstrating “collective support” for a more just and united society.
Key provisions of the CPF include the digitization of civil status and the introduction of personal identifiers, alongside the harmonization of the legal age for marriage and civil majority at 18 years, with judicial exceptions permitting marriage at 16.
The code also recognizes customary and religious marriages, conditional upon registration in civil records, and reforms the process for acquiring nationality through marriage, making it no longer automatic.
For the first time, the code includes a chapter addressing statelessness, aligning national law with international conventions. Inheritance rules have also been updated to reduce inequalities, enabling parents to inherit from their children and ensuring fairer treatment across family lines.
However, the CPF introduces controversial provisions, including a ban on homosexual practices, punishable by fines, imprisonment, and possible expulsion for repeat offenders, and allows deprivation of nationality for actions considered harmful to national interests.
Anchored in Burkinabe sovereignty and culture, the new code represents a deliberate effort to modernize family law while preserving national identity.
Officials describe it as a tool that balances legal progress with social realities, providing Burkinabe citizens with a framework better suited to the challenges of the 21st century.
The adoption of this code is widely viewed as a milestone in the country’s legal evolution, promising to reshape family rights and responsibilities for generations to come.
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