Burundi: the relegation of the CNIDH to B status undermines its credibility

The Independent National Human Rights Commission in Burundi, CNIDH, has once again lost its “A” status reserved for National Commissions which have proven their impartiality in relation to the powers in place, according to the United Nations. For several Burundian activists, this is a clear sign that international confidence in Burundi is declining.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

A hard blow for this commission, which could result in the suspension of external aid which supported this institution.

This decision has just been taken by the authorized UN body (the accreditation subcommittee of National Human Rights Institutions, INDH) at the end of a process which began in 2023 and which points the lack of independence of the CNIDH-Burundi, the minimization of serious violations of human rights committed in the country, or the absence of cooperation of this institution with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the commissions of inquiry into these violations.

Several Burundian, African and European human rights organizations had contacted the UN Human Rights Council and the alliance of national commissions to downgrade the Burundian body.

The UN special rapporteur on Burundi also raised his voice last November before the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.

“It is clear that the CNIDH has become one of the spokespersons for the government in place, notably by turning a blind eye to human rights violations or by minimizing cases. Several reports show cases of political intolerance, forced disappearances and arbitrary imprisonment but this commission says nothing about it,” vigorously argued diplomat Fortuné Gaetan Zongo.

But for the CNIDH, the Burundian body deserved better.

“We deserve more than A status because Burundi is now at the head of such commissions at the African level, then the CNIDH is champion and asked to form other bodies of this kind in Africa. I do not believe that Burundi could be envied by other commissions and that the UN turns a blind eye so as not to notice it,” Sixte Vigny Nimuraba, president of the CNIDH, told SOS Médias Burundi in an exclusive interview, a few days ago.

Despite these assurances, the CNIDH has just lost “A” status twice in less than six years.

The first time was in 2018. At that time, instead of denouncing human rights violations during the other controversial term of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza, the CNIDH supported the government and opposed
human rights defenders, according to Burundian activists.

The accession to power of President Évariste Ndayishimiye in June 2020 raised hopes internationally and the president of the CNIDH Sixte Vigny Nimuraba, played a key role in the lifting of the sanctions imposed on his commission, which allowed it to regain its “A” status in 2021.

“This decision was adopted at the same time as the international community began to lift the majority of the sanctions imposed against Burundi during the third term of Pierre Nkurunziza,” recalls a Burundian activist.

The years that have passed, however, have revealed that in reality, no substantial change has taken place and the CNIDH has just received the rating it deserves.

“The CNIDH continued to oppose human rights defenders, while attempting to conceal the serious crimes committed, the CNIDH has never attested to the involvement of government agents in cases of forced disappearances,” notes lawyer Armel Niyongere , president of the ACAT-Burundi organization, that campaigned for this disciplinary measure against the CNIDH.

And he noted, “The commission did not deserve to be in A status. The commission is not at all independent. In its reports, it says that everything is fine, that there are no human rights violations, while there were reports from the United Nations, from civil society organizations which showed that “there have been serious violations of human rights.”

For this activist, it is an opportunity for introspection offered to the commission.

“No doubt this step will allow it to pull itself together to fully carry out its mission of defending human rights. Because its reports have never shown exact figures for cases of violations and torture, or the commission flatly denied any violation while we continue to denounce several cases without the commission carrying out investigations,” he adds.

As for the organizations operating on the Burundian territory, there is dismay. They accuse the UN High Commission for Human Rights of being manipulated.

“In any case, it is a bad decision which does not promote the development of human rights in Burundi. It is a decision with political overtones, remotely guided by organizations that are enemies of Burundi. This council should be careful, it is collecting data from the wrong side because our organizations on the ground have not been consulted. We demand that this measure be canceled because it is unfounded,” reacted Gérard Hakizimana, legal representative of Force to Fight Nepotism and Favoritism in Burundi (FOLUCON F), delegated by his colleagues.

This activist also tries to convince that the CNIDH is fulfilling its role as guardian of respect for human rights in Burundi.

“Nothing can justify this demotion from status A to status B. Because, to our knowledge, the commission works well and fully plays its role. In any case, the decision of the United Nations accreditation subcommittee is biased. Rather, this decision undermines and should handicap the daily work of the CNIDH,” insists Gérard Hakizimana.

Sixte Vigny Nimuraba and his team have one year to prove themselves and convince of its independence to prevent the demotion from being definitive.

So-called B status commissions can only participate in international and regional work and meetings of national human rights institutions as observers. They cannot vote or exercise their functions with the Bureau or its subcommittees. They cannot speak under agenda items or submit documents to the Human Rights Council,
“which means that Burundi will no longer be able to assert its position or defend or plead for human rights before the UN,” regret Burundian activists.

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Élisa Nkerabirori, Ambassador of Burundi in Geneva, defends her country and its institutions before the Human Rights Council, September 2023