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Burundi regrets human rights report by European parliament

Xinhua, January 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Burundian government on Thursday rejected a European parliament report on the East African nation's human rights violations, suggesting it was ill-intended with outdated information.

"Burundi is accustomed to the fact that ill-intended organizations tarnish the country's image on the eve of important events such the forthcoming African Union (AU) summit due at the end of this month. Their aim is to influence decisions out of the event," Burundian government spokesman Philippe Nzobonariba said in a statement.

According to him, the European parliament "does not have an updated situation" on the positive evolution of the security and political situation in Burundi.

"With the collaboration of involved stakeholders, the human rights situation has improved. Besides, the European parliament should consider the presidential pardon that targets some 2,500 inmates, including inmates convicted of criminal acts like participating in insurrectional movements since 2014," Nzobonariba said.

Nzobonariba emphasized that the European parliament report shows that their sources of information are "biased."

According to Nzobonariba, the report by the European parliament is grounded on a biased report on a risk of genocide in Burundi, which was published in November 2016 by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) with the collaboration of the Burundi-based Iteka Human Rights League and that was later indefinitely cancelled.

On Jan. 19, the European parliament issued a resolution whereby it pointed out violations of human rights in Burundi. The Burundian parliament has condemned the report.

With regards to worries by the European parliament on the adoption by the Burundian parliament of the bill on non-profit organizations and the bill on foreign NGOs, Nzobonariba indicated that the parliament is mandated to work on such bills.

The new bill on foreign NGOs provides for instance that each foreign NGO will pay 500 U.S. dollars in order to be authorized to work on the Burundian territory.

The bill also provides that foreign NGOs will have to open a foreign currency account at the Burundi Central Bank, but will have to pay its staff in local currency in order to protect the Burundi franc.

The recruitment of the staff of the foreign NGOs will have to take into account ethnic backgrounds, gender and candidates' competences in accordance with the Burundian constitution. Endit