GENEVA – Welcoming the adoption by the Security Council of a new resolution yesterday strongly condemning the ongoing killings and human rights violations in Burundi, a group of UN independent experts has expressed outrage at the situation and warned that the central African “is going towards an unacceptable path of atrocities.” The experts welcomed the “clear message and alert” sent by the Council’s unanimously adopted resolution, which condemned the increased cases of human rights violations and abuses in Burundi, the seven UN Special Rapporteurs emphasized that actions must now be undertaken to follow up the text and provide “concrete responses fitting the magnitude of the risks at stake, for Burundi and the region.” The experts went on to recount a raft of ills, saying the situation in Burundi continues to deteriorate with daily reports of serious human rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, attacks on independent media and harassment and killing of human rights defenders, unjustified limitations on freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression, adding to more than 200,000 persons displaced by violence. “This is a crisis that is eminently political in nature and entails an increased risk of escalation of violence and... Continue reading →
