Burundi

President Évariste Ndayishimiye’s election in May 2020 raised hopes of an end to Burundi’s pervasive human rights crisis. However, the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy has maintained its monopoly on power after the elections, while reports of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and arbitrary arrests of opposition members persist. Civil society and independent media are still unable to effectively function. While four prominent journalists were pardoned and released in late 2020, several human rights defenders remain in jail despite international calls for their release.