VII. Training of SNR agentsIn April 2006, General Nshimirimana requested ONUB to provide training in human rights to employees of the SNR.127 In May and June, ONUB staff carried out three- and five-day workshops for administrators and officers of the SNR. The sessions focused on basic law enforcement and aspects of human rights related to investigations and, according to ONUB, “provided examples of unlawful behavior by intelligence service agents such as arrests without warrant, torture and ill-treatment.”128 ONUB also held a training session for members of the SNR who would act as future trainers of other SNR agents. One of the attendees of this workshop has since that training session been accused in the torture of the alleged coup plotters in the first week of August.129 Clearly, stopping human rights abuses by the SNR will require more than training. While training is useful to the institutions of the new government, proper investigations into abuses and arrests will send a strong message that human rights violations such as torture and extrajudicial killing will not be tolerated. 127 United Nations Security Council, Seventh report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Operation in Burundi, S/2006/ 429, June 21, 2006, http://www.un.org/docs/sc/sgrep06.htm (accessed October 10, 2006). 128 Email communication from ONUB human rights officer to Human Rights Watch, September 26, 2006. A Human Rights Watch researcher was invited and agreed to attend one training session on June 21 and answered questions posed by SNR agents about our methodology and mandate. 129 Human Rights Watch interview with ONUB human rights officer, September 27, 2006. |