A report released this month by Human Rights Watch says that Quebecer Edith Blais was likely kidnapped in Burkina Faso and then taken to neighbouring Mali.

Blais was with Italian Luca Tacchetto in Burkina Faso when the two went missing in December.

Human Rights Watch said that no armed groups had taken responsibility for their abduction.

The report also elaborated on the disappearance of Canadian geologist Kirk Woodman, who went missing in January.

He was allegedly abducted by an armed religious group from a mining site in northeast Burkina Faso.

Woodman's body was found two days later 100 km away.