UN Secretary General worries are an advice, says Chairman of Human Rights

Jean Baptiste Baribonekeza, chairman of the National Commission for Human Rights-CNDIH says it is normal that the UN secretary General Antonio Guterres raises his concerns on the current situation in Burundi as he has the responsibility to prevent conflicts. “The United Nations is a global organization. It is normal that he talks about ongoing processes in some countries and particularly raises his concerns on Burundi,” he says.

Jean Baptiste Baribonekeza: « We have to take the UN Secretary General report as an advice”

During the presentation of the current human rights situation in Burundi by the National Commission for Human Rights, Mr Baribonekeza has said the UN Secretary General report submitted to the UN Security Council was only a kind of worry. “We have to take this message as a sort of advice, like a dose to prevent the ongoing process from having adverse effects on the population,” he has said.
Baribonekeza has also said it is a wink for all stakeholders in the Burundian conflict so that the peace process can lead to something good for the Burundian people.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had submitted his report on the current situation in Burundi to the UN Security Council. According to him, several proposed changes to the Constitution have been questioned by the opposition. Antonio Guterres is worried about the possibility of the president to seek another term of office in 2020.

Burundi has plunged into a political crisis when President Nkurunziza announced he would run for another term of office in April 2015. Since then, more than 400,000 Burundians have fled the country, escaping human rights abuses, continued political uncertainty, and the related humanitarian crisis.The UN Refugee Agency-UNHCR expects that numbers of Burundian refugees will increase by over 50,000 this year as regional efforts to resolve the political crisis in the country have not made significant progress. Meanwhile, the registration of voters for the referendum vote scheduled in May 2018 to amend the Constitution started on 8 February.