{"id":28662,"date":"2016-08-03T07:40:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T05:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/28662-dispatches-why-is-burundi-ducking-questions-about-torture.html"},"modified":"2016-08-03T07:40:14","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T05:40:14","slug":"dispatches-why-is-burundi-ducking-questions-about-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/28662-dispatches-why-is-burundi-ducking-questions-about-torture.html","title":{"rendered":"Dispatches: Why is Burundi Ducking Questions About Torture?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to the human rights crisis in Burundi, the UN Committee Against Torture held a special session<\/a> last week to review allegations of torture and other abuses in the country. But the Burundian government shocked everyone in the room by failing to turn up for the review\u2019s second day \u2013 apparently the first country ever to do so.<\/p>\n

On July 28, a government delegation, headed by Justice Minister Aim\u00e9e Laurentine Kanyana, had attended the first part of the UN Committee Against Torture\u2019s (CAT) review. In her opening speech<\/a>, she stated that Burundian law prohibits torture and that anyone responsible for torture would be prosecuted. She attempted to discredit \u201ctendentious\u201d reports based on anonymous sources or originating from political opponents, and asked the CAT to disqualify reports to which the Burundian government had not had the opportunity to react.<\/p>\n

She then listened as CAT members raised serious concerns \u2013 including torture, extrajudicial executions, disappearances, rape, and crackdowns on human rights defenders and opposition party members \u2013 and asked numerous, precise questions about the Burundian government\u2019s actions. CAT members spoke scathingly about the Burundian justice system\u2019s lack of independence and the authorities\u2019 failure to end impunity.<\/p>\n

It was clear Burundi\u2019s minister would have a hard time answering their questions.<\/p>\n

When the CAT reconvened on July 29, the Burundian delegation was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, the chair announced that the delegation had sent a written statement, asking for more time to respond. In the statement, the Burundian delegation complained that the CAT had raised questions which allegedly went beyond the issues it had set out beforehand. It also claimed the CAT was largely basing its questions on an alternative report, submitted by Burundian civil society organizations, which, it said, had not shared the report with the government.<\/p>\n

In fact, the CAT had submitted its concerns well in advance. Furthermore, reports by Burundian and international human rights organizations documenting torture were already in the public domain. In July 2016 alone, Human Rights Watch published two reports, one on torture of suspected government opponents<\/a> by the Burundian intelligence services and police and another on rape by members of the youth league<\/a> of the ruling party. The concerns documented go to the core of the CAT\u2019s review, and the Burundian government should not have been surprised by the issues raised.<\/p>\n

The CAT decided to proceed to its concluding observations and not reward the Burundian government\u2019s non-cooperation by delaying the hearing.<\/p>\n

The Burundian government\u2019s message last week was clear: it prefers to duck tough questions rather than engage with the UN on human rights, or take meaningful action to prevent torture.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the human rights crisis in Burundi, the UN Committee Against Torture held a special session last week to review allegations of torture and other abuses in the country. But the Burundian government shocked everyone in the room by failing to turn up for the review\u2019s second day \u2013 apparently the first country […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2153],"class_list":["post-28662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","ji_location-burundi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDispatches: Why is Burundi Ducking Questions About Torture? - JusticeInfo.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/28662-dispatches-why-is-burundi-ducking-questions-about-torture.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dispatches: Why is Burundi Ducking Questions About Torture?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In response to the human rights crisis in Burundi, the UN Committee Against Torture held a special session last week to review allegations of torture and other abuses in the country. 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