Burundi: Extend the Special Rapporteur’s mandate and ensure adequate funding for his monitoring and documentation work

At the UN Human Rights Council’s 51^st session, in October 2022, the Council extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi, which it established a year earlier, at its 48^th session. It expressed deep concern about ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Burundi and regretted the Burundian Government’s lack of cooperation with human rights bodies and mechanisms.

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As serious human rights violations persist in Burundi and the Government has failed to hold per­petrators accountable or take the concerns raised by Burundian and international actors seriously, the Coun­cil should not relax its scrutiny. At its 54^th session (11 September-13 October 2023), it should extend the Special Rapporteur’s mandate for an additional year.

Additionally, the Human Rights Council should ensure that the Special Rapporteur is able to fulfil his man­date, as per resolution 48/16, to, inter alia, “monitor the situation of human rights in Bu­rundi, […] make recommen­da­tions for its improvement, [and] collect, examine and assess infor­ma­tion from all relevant stake­holders […], building upon the work of the Commission of Inquiry.” To fulfil these mo­nitoring and docu­men­tation functions, the Special Rapporteur requires adequate funding for at least one additional staff member, which the UN Secretary-Gene­ral should provide to him. (…)

In light of the ongoing grave human rights violations and abuses, the absence of sus­tai­na­ble progress on key human rights issues of con­­­­cern, including civic space, the risk of an escalation of violations, particularly ahead of the legislative elections in 2025 and presidential elections in 2027, concerns regarding the lack of independence of the National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH), and the Govern­ment’s continued refusal to co­operate with the UN and regional human rights mechanisms, we believe that the Council should maintain its scrutiny of Burundi’s human rights si­tu­ation. (…)

At its upcoming 54^th session, the Council should adopt a resolution that:

• Extends the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of hu­man rights in Burundi for an additional year;
• Requests the United Nations Secretary-Gene­ral to provide the Special Rapporteur with the assistance and all resources necessary to fulfil his mandate
• Reaffirms that all States Members of the Human Rights Council should uphold the highest stan­­­dards in the promotion and protection of human rights, and urges all States that are can­di­­dates for the Human Rights Council Membership, including Burundi, to be mindful of these standards;
• Urges the Government of Burundi to fulfil its obligations under national law and international human rights law and to protect civic space, by respecting the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, upholding the rights of Human Rights Defenders, and crea­ting a safe envi­ron­ment for civil society organisations;
• Urges the Government of Burundi to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur, including by granting him access to the country and by providing him with all the information necessary to properly fulfil the mandate;
• Urges the Government of Burundi to constructively cooperate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in particular its regional office for Central Africa, and to present a timeline for the reopening of its country office in Burundi; and
• Urges the Government of Burundi to resume meaningful cooperation with African human rights bodies and me­cha­nisms, including the African Com­mission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.