BURUNDI: Special Rapporteur welcomes Truth and Reconciliation Commission but identifies plenty Transitional Justice challenges
At the end of his first official visit to the country, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff, has shared his preliminary observations. De Greiff welcomes the new law that establishes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a key content of the Arusha peace deal in the year 2000, but warns its objectives should not be about pardon, but to uncover the truth, address reconciliation at the society level, involve civil society in the process, and signal openness and accessibility to victims, regardless of their ethnic identity or political affiliation. The Special Rapporteur added that in parallel to the TRC, immediate attention should be given to victims’ assistance programmes focusing on elderly and infirm widows, orphans, internally displaced persons or other marginalized groups, and that future comprehensive reparations programmes should include support for education. De Greiff also recommended the Government not to postpone judicial investigations for past mass crimes, to gather relevant evidence immediately, with special attention given to sexual and gender-based violence. Regarding non-recurrence, de Greiff suggested to accomplish the demobilization of ex-combatants and the integration of large number of them into the military and police, to take measures to further professionalize the military, the police forces and the intelligence agency, and to approve constitutional and legislative amendments to diminish the possibility of executive interference in the administration of justice. A final report on the visit will be presented in September 2015. (OHCHR, 05, 16/12/14)