GENEVA (15 May 2023) - The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi, Fortuné Gaetan Zongo, will conduct an official visit to Belgium from 15 to 25 May 2023.

"I would like to seize the opportunity of Burundi's ongoing passage to the Universal Periodic Review to touch upon issues related to civic space, sustainable return of refugees and the fight against impunity by victims of human rights violations and abuses since 2015,” Zongo said.

Since his appointment, the Special Rapporteur has requested the Government of Burundi to be given access to visit the country. Due to lack of response, the Special Rapporteur has decided to collect first-hand information from the Burundian diaspora and other stakeholders based in Belgium.

Zongo will present his annual report on the situation of human rights in Burundi to the Human Rights Council in September 2023 and the UN General Assembly in October 2023.

ENDS

Mr Fortuné Gaétan Zongo (Burkina Faso) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi. The UN Human Rights Council appointed him to this mandate on 1 April 2022 at the end of its 49th session. He will present his report to the fifty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council and to the United Nations General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session.

Special rapporteurs, independent experts and working groups are part of the so-called Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The Special Procedures are the largest group of independent experts in the UN human rights system. It is the general name for the Council's independent investigative and monitoring mechanisms that deal either with specific country situations or thematic issues in all regions of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.