The UN CERD is very much concerned about the current situation in Burundi
In a statement issued on 29 November, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) has called on Burundi government to take prompt and effective action to protect civilians, by authorizing a United Nations police contingent to monitor the security and human rights situation in the country.
The Committee deplored Burundi’s serious lack of co-operation with the international community and called on the government to re-engage with the United Nations Human Rights Office.
CERD is very much concerned about what is happening in Burundi including armed militia intimidating people openly, reports of killings, summary executions, disappearances and torture; the frequent use of hate speech by government officials and the growing number of Burundians who are fleeing the country.
It is also worried about the questionnaire distributed to civil servants asking them to state their ethnic groups.
“Such a survey, given the Burundi’s history of virulent ethnic conflicts, could spread fear and further causing lack of trust among the population,” said Anastasia Crickley, CERD Committee Chairperson.
She said Burundi is at a dangerous junction. “We therefore call on the Government to step back from any actions that risk stoking ethnic conflict and that could even be a precursor to mass atrocities,” said Ms. Crickley.
Burundi withdrew from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in October. It rejected the UN Independent Investigation on Burundi and declared the three investigation experts persona non grata.
On 26 November, Burundi Home Affairs Ministry organized a public demonstration in the Burundian capital to protest against the deployment of the three commissioners of inquiry on the human rights situation in Burundi, recently appointed by the UN Human Rights Commission
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