04 March 2019•Update: 04 March 2019
DAKAR
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Burundi closed indefinitely Monday following a positive response to a political crisis, the government said.
The OHCHR office was said to be the strategic partner of the state in the protection of human rights during its 23-year operation.
The office was founded in 1995 to fight human rights violations stemming from a political crisis after the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye in 1993.
The country’s current crisis and unrest began when President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his candidacy for a third term in April 2015, after ruling for the previous 13 years. An agreement signed in Arusha, Tanzania in August 2000 between the government and armed groups states that head of state could be elected only twice.
The UN set up the UN Burundi Human Rights Commission in 2016 to examine rights violations.
The government refused to cooperate with inspectors and declared a UN report that said crimes against humanity were committed as unacceptable. Burundi withdrew from the International Criminal Court in October 2017.
According to the latest data of the UNHCR last August, more than 1,000 Burundians were killed in violence and 400,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
Reporting by Alaattin Dogru, writing by Munira Abdelmenan Awel
