United Nations Human Rights Council has reported violation of human rights in Burundi despite the country’s promise to buck the trend.
The council’s commission of inquiry on Burundi said it investigated the most serious human rights violations committed in Burundi since President Évariste Ndayishimiye assumed office in June 2020.
The commission said it documented more than 170 testimonies from victims and witnesses of human rights violations and abuses and other sources.
‘Serious human rights violations have continued to be committed by state officials and members of the Imbonerakure with the acquiescence of the authorities or even at their instigation’, the report said.
‘The rule of law continues to be progressively eroded and the risk factors for a deterioration in the human rights situation, though improved in some cases, remain present overall’.
Major unrest began in 2015 when the country’s president at the time, Pierre Nkurunziza, sought to stand for a controversial third term. The government launched a crack down on protesters, civil society activists and journalists.
Ndayishimiye, who became president in June 2020, has been battling an increasingly active range of armed groups carrying out several deadly attacks against civilians and security forces.
‘While seeking persons allegedly involved in the armed attacks or collaborating with rebel groups, the security forces targeted mainly members from the main opposition party, the National Congress for Liberty (CNL), former members of the Tutsi-dominated Burundian Armed Forces (ex-FAB), returnees and some of their family members’, the commission noted.
‘Agents of the National Intelligence Service (SNR), police officers, including from the Mobile Rapid Intervention Groups (GMIR) and the Imbonerakure, the youth-league of Burundi’s ruling party CNDD-FDD, known for their brutality, are the main perpetrators of those violations, some of which could amount to crimes against humanity’.
The commission also said, ‘The Government also seeks to control the deliverables of foreign NGOs, the ethnic composition of their staff, the salaries of their expatriate staff, and demands that the recruitment committees introduced by the government be involved in the hiring processes.
‘Furthermore, there has been no notable progress in the fight against impunity. Authorities continue to deny the human rights violations committed since 2015, and in so doing, maintain a climate of fear and retaliation that dissuade victims and their families from filing any complaints’.
The commission recommended an independent international mechanism that can objectively monitor the human rights situation in the country.
However, addressing the UN General Assembly’s 76th session, Ndayishimiye said it will be counterproductive to attach special human rights mechanisms to the county in reaction to the report.
‘In practice, the government has focused on the protection of human rights, respect for democratic principles, freedoms of opinion, expression and the press’, he said.
‘A lot of effort has been made thanks to the establishment of an almost permanent dialogue between political parties, the media and the public authorities’.
Source: OHCHR
Photo source: Needpix
