III. Recommendations

To the Government of Burundi

Take necessary steps to ensure that all state security forces, including the police, the army, and the SNR, comply with Burundian and international law regarding searches, arrests, and the treatment of detainees.
Cease all arrests on the basis of political party membership or activity when such activity does not constitute a crime according to Burundian law. Ensure that all persons in detention, including opposition party members, are brought before independent judges to review their detention and order their release if no grounds for their detention are proven. Those who are tried should be guaranteed a speedy trial in accordance with international fair trial standards.
Instruct all provincial and communal authorities to permit meetings by all registered parties.
Apply the constitution equally to all political parties by either reinstating the 22 opposition parliamentarians expelled from the National Assembly as “independents” in June or expelling the pro-government parliamentarians who also qualify as “independents.”
Immediately cease all collaboration between security forces and armed civilian groups. Open investigations into the conduct of police and intelligence officials who have knowingly collaborated with armed civilian groups and encouraged them to carry out arrests and ill-treatment of alleged FNL members or members of the political opposition.

Through the prosecutors’ office, continue or reopen investigations into unsolved murders and attempted murders of civilians allegedly affiliated with the FNL, CNDD-FDD, the SNR, and opposition political parties in early 2008 and early 2009, and bring suspects to justice.

While respecting the law already in place concerning “provisional immunity,” ensure that peace negotiations with FNL result in provisions allowing for the eventual prosecution of those on all sides who have committed serious crimes in relation to the armed conflict.
Enforce Article 411 of the new criminal code, which penalizes the arbitrary deprivation of liberty by state agents.
End all interference by the executive branch in the functioning of the judicial system and take all necessary steps to put in place an effective, independent judiciary.

Instruct all members to respect the law governing activities of political parties.

Instruct members to abstain from all acts of violence against state agents and all civilians, particularly CNDD-FDD members.
Assist the police and the prosecutor’s office in investigations that may lead to the arrests of any FNL members who have committed serious crimes that are not covered by provisional immunity, including rape and murder.

Commit to a zero-tolerance policy against any form of political violence by members. Cooperate with police and judicial investigations on any crimes attributed to members.
Make use of the Burundian judicial system to pursue abuses committed against party members.
Disband any youth movements involved in the promotion of violence.

Press the Government of Burundi to end all politically-motivated arrests and other forms of harassment of opposition party members.
Carefully monitor the government’s compliance with the criminal procedure code and the independence of the judicial system, and take steps to support the development of an independent, effective judiciary.
Actively denounce human rights abuses documented by human rights observers on the ground, and regularly raise these issues with the government, requesting specific action to end these abuses.
Ensure that reporting from all BINUB sections, including the political and security sector reform sections, takes into account human rights violations related to political and security sector reform.
Monitor the usage of Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) monies disbursed to the Government of Burundi, particularly those disbursed to the police and the SNR, to ensure that these funds contribute to ending impunity and play no role in facilitating human rights abuses.

Insist that the Government of Burundi demonstrate its commitment to the peace process by ceasing all arbitrary arrests, intimidation, beating, and extrajudicial executions of alleged FNL members and sympathizers and holding to account those responsible for such abuses.
Improve utilization of the ceasefire monitoring mechanism as a forum in which to demand clarification of serious human rights abuses by both government and FNL forces, particularly the unsolved murders targeting both sides.
Pay particular attention to violence and human rights abuses attributed to FNL and CNDD-FDD members in the interior, and use the peace process to seek an end to such abuses.
Monitor activities of peacekeepers responsible for protecting the FNL delegation, in order to ensure they avoid complicity in human rights violations by FNL members.

Work through the “Groupe de Coordination des Partenaires” (Partners Coordination Group) dedicated to security sector reform to ensure that all security forces are sufficiently trained with regard to criminal procedure, rule of law, international human rights law, and humanitarian law. Condition funding on demands that members of the security forces who commit human rights violations be held accountable.
Press the Government of Burundi to end all politically-motivated arrests and other forms of harassment of opposition party members.
Ensure the presence of national and international election observers who are on the ground months in advance of the 2010 elections to monitor any potential election-related human rights abuses.
Support the development of an effective, independent judiciary by monitoring cases of executive interference in the judiciary and supporting the training of independent judges.