A/HRC/RES/54/20
refugees, while stressing the importance of guaranteeing security and social integration to
returnees as stated by the Special Rapporteur in his report,2 and also noting the commitments
made towards realizing further improvements in the areas of human rights, good governance
and the rule of law,
Expressing deep concern about the ongoing human rights violations and abuses in
Burundi, and regretting the lack of cooperation of the Government of Burundi with the
Human Rights Council and its mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur, and with the
Human Rights Committee, and the lack of progress in reopening the country office of the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,
1.
Strongly condemns all human rights violations and abuses committed in
Burundi, including those involving extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, arbitrary
arrest and detention, acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, and sexual and gender-based violence, and calls for an immediate end to these
violations and abuses and for the full respect of all human rights and fundamental freedoms;
2.
Urges the Government of Burundi to guarantee the rights to freedom of
opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association, and deplores the reduced space for
civil society, citizen activism, political participation and a free and fair judiciary, encourages
the Government to consolidate the progress made in the field of the media, and stresses the
need for the Government to provide a safe and enabling environment for civil society, human
rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and other media workers, including women working
in these professions, to carry out their work independently, without intimidation or undue
interference, and to release all those who are still in detention for doing their work in defence
of human rights;
3.
Condemns the widespread impunity for all human rights violations and abuses,
and urges the Government of Burundi to hold all perpetrators, regardless of their affiliation
or status, including members of defence and security forces and of the ruling party’s youth
league, the Imbonerakure, accountable for their actions, and to ensure that victims can seek
justice and legal redress, and encourages the Government to reconsider its decision to
withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court;
4.
Calls upon the Government of Burundi to guarantee the independence of the
judiciary from the executive branch;
5.
Also calls upon the Government of Burundi to provide the National
Independent Human Rights Commission with all the means necessary to perform its function
of promoting and protecting human rights in line with the principles relating to the status of
national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles),
and to ensure its independence;
6.
Further calls upon the Government of Burundi to fully implement the
recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Burundi and the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi in their reports, as well as those accepted
in the context of the universal periodic review, and to cooperate fully with the special
procedures of the Human Rights Council and relevant treaty bodies;
7.
Calls upon the Government of Burundi to refrain from all acts of intimidation
or reprisal against human rights defenders, including those who are cooperating with
international human rights mechanisms and the Human Rights Council;
8.
Encourages the Government of Burundi to engage in a genuine and inclusive
spirit with all Burundian stakeholders, operating from both inside and outside the country, to
effectively address the multiple, deep-rooted challenges that Burundi is experiencing and to
sustainably reintegrate returnees into Burundian society;
9.
Decides to extend the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Burundi for a further period of one year, and requests the Special Rapporteur to
present to the Human Rights Council, at its fifty-sixth session, an oral update on the situation
2
2
Ibid., para. 86.