Summary

The Commission of Inquiry on Burundi found that the serious human rights violations documented in the first year of its mandate, including crimes against humanity, have persisted in 2017 and 2018. Such violations include cases of summary execution, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, sexual violence, and violations of civil liberties such as the freedoms of expression, association, assembly and movement (see A/HRC/36/54 and A/HRC/36/54/Corr.1).

While the State entities that are most often implicated in these violations continue to be the National Intelligence Service and the police, the Commission is concerned about the growing role being played by members of the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, in a situation in which recruitment drives among the general public are being used as a means of suppressing all opposition. The perpetrators of the violations are operating in a climate of impunity perpetuated by the lack of an independent judiciary.

The political crisis in Burundi has had a very negative impact on the country’s economic and social situation and has fuelled an increase in poverty. The Government has nonetheless imposed additional taxes and contributions, in contravention of the right of all persons to an adequate standard of living, and has failed to devote the greatest possible share of its domestic resources to the realization of economic and social rights.