Burundi

Making love a crime: Criminalization of same-sex conduct in Sub-Saharan Africa

Amnesty International 25 June 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides an analysis of the legal environment and wider context of human rights violations against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) individuals in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent years have seen increasing reports of people being harassed, marginalized, discriminated against and attacked because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. This is occurring in countries whose legal systems still condone the criminalization of consensual same-sex behaviour, and in countries where the police and justice systems are failing to prevent these crimes from happening. The continued criminalization of consensual same-sex Read the full article…


Forced Migration Review No. 43 - States of fragility

Refugees Studies Centre May 2013 State fragility poses a challenge to the refugee regime. Rather than just placing the emphasis on the need to protect people fleeing the acts of states against their own populations, it also demands the protection of people fleeing the omissions of states, whether due to states’ unwillingness or to their inability to provide for their citizens’ fundamental rights. Read full report here.  


Burundi : Human Rights Watch 2013 annual report

31 January 2013 Human Rights Watch Human rights in Burundi in 2012 present both progress and serious concerns. For example, the number of political killings decreased in 2012 after a sharp escalation in 2011, but political space remains restricted. The Burundian government failed to address widespread impunity, especially for members of the security forces and the youth league of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD). The report of a commission of inquiry, set up by the prosecutor general to investigate cases of extrajudicial executions and torture, acknowledged that killings had occurred, Read the full article…


Burundi: State still accused of killings and cover-ups

IRIN, 10 October 2012 With a couple of clicks, a photo appeared on the Burundian human rights activist’s computer screen: a hillside; a prone, male body, its severed head lying next to it; another man, naked, sitting, ankles and wrists bound, still alive when the photo was taken but since deceased; the uniformed legs of several other men, allegedly police, standing over the scene; the back of a jeep-type vehicle. “This is reality,” said Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, chairman of the Association for the Protection of Human and Prisoners’ Rights, in his small Bujumbura office, adding that the photo was taken in April Read the full article…


Burundi: Amnesty International annual report 2012

Amnesty International Annual Report 2012: the state of the world’s human rights Published 24 May 2012 Impunity remained widespread and became further entrenched. Extrajudicial executions and political killings increased. The justice system remained politicized. Human rights defenders and journalists faced increased repression. The government committed itself to establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2012, but no progress was made in setting up a Special Tribunal. Background The ruling party, the National Council for Defence of Democracy-Forces for Defence of Democracy, consolidated its hold on power after most opposition parties withdrew from the 2010 elections. Security forces unlawfully killed, harassed Read the full article…


Burundi: Escalation of Political Violence in 2011

Human Rights Watch, May 2nd 2012 Scores of people have been killed in political attacks in Burundi since the end of 2010, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The killings, some by state agents and members of the ruling party, others by armed opposition groups, reflect widespread impunity, the inability of the state to protect its citizens, and an ineffective judiciary. The 81-page report, “‘You Will Not Have Peace While You Are Living’: The Escalation of Political Violence in Burundi,” documents political killings stemming from the 2010 elections in Burundi. These killings, which peaked toward the middle Read the full article…


Burundi: “You Will Not Have Peace While You Are Living”. HRW report

Human Rights Watch, May 2nd 2012 This 81-page report documents political killings stemming from the 2010 elections in Burundi. These killings, which peaked toward the middle of 2011, often took the form of tit-for-tat attacks by members of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, CNDD-FDD) and the opposition National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de libération, FNL). In the vast majority of cases, justice has been denied to families of the victims. Contents: Glossary of Terms and Acronyms Summary Read the full article…


Burundi: A new rebellion?

IRIN, UN News Service, 1 December 2011 Amid growing concerns about a wave of political assassinations in Burundi, a former police officer has announced the formation of a new armed group, with the aim of overthrowing a government he accuses of numerous killings, rampant corruption and economic incompetence. The army quickly denied a new rebellion was under way and a news blackout has been imposed. Some 300,000 people are thought to have died during a civil war that raged in Burundi between 1993 and 2005 and whose aftershocks continue to be felt in the form of frequent violence and political Read the full article…


Rwanda: Stop intimidating regional human rights group

Human Rights Watch 23 August 2011 The Rwandan authorities should immediately stop intimidating human rights defenders and allow them to work freely, Human Rights Watch said today. Two leading members of a regional human rights organization were unlawfully detained on August 19, 2011, prevented from traveling, questioned, and harassed, Human Rights Watch said. Joseph Sanane and Epimack Kwokwo, the president and acting executive secretary of the Regional Human Rights League in the Great Lakes Region (Ligue des droits de la personne dans la région des Grands Lacs, LDGL), were stopped by border officials on August 19. They had been traveling Read the full article…


Burundi: Political parties call on the government to engage in dialogue and cease policy of oppression and harassment

Burundi: Calls for dialogue IRIN news service, 30 November 2010 (a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Political parties in Burundi, which is striving to move on from years of civil war, have called on the government to engage in dialogue and cease what they regard as a policy of oppression and harassment. Several spoke to IRIN: