Burundi Closes UN Human Rights Office

The UN human rights office in Burundi was closed last month after 23 years in operation.

The closure was announced by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in a statement dated March 5. 

“It is with deep regret that we have had to close our office in Burundi after a 23-year presence in the country,” Bachelet stated.

“Since the UN Human Rights Office in Burundi was established in 1995, for many years we worked with the Government on peacebuilding, security sector reform, justice sector reform and helped build institutional and civil society capacity on a whole host of human rights issues”, she added.

The UN has repeatedly expressed its concerning regarding the deteriorating situation in the country since 2015.

The closure of the office follows a request by the government in December 2018 and the prior suspension of all cooperation between the country’s authorities and the office in 2016, after a UN investigation implicated the government and its supporters in crimes of humanity.

“Our reports on the human rights situation in Burundi have always been developed in a constructive spirit, intended to support the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. But I am disappointed by Burundi’s lack of cooperation in recent years with UN human rights mechanisms – which even went so far as to include threats to prosecute members of the independent international Commission of Inquiry established by the UN Human Rights Council,” Bachelet is quoted as stating.