Situation of Human Rights in Burundi

A/HRC/RES/63/23View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 4 Human rights situations that require the Council's attention, published in 2026.

What other versions does this mandate have?

10 versions · 2016–2026

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2026	A/HRC/RES/63/23	Situation of human rights in Burundi	1,585	—Compare
2025	A/HRC/RES/60/15	Situation of human rights in Burundi	1,444	85%Compare
2024	A/HRC/RES/57/22	Situation of human rights in Burundi	1,285	85%Compare
2023	A/HRC/RES/54/20	Situation of human rights in Burundi	1,158	89%Compare
2022	A/HRC/RES/51/28	Situation of human rights in Burundi	1,054	29%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Burundi Civil and Political Rights Field Offices Human Rights Human Rights Violations Special Rapporteurs

What’s in this document?

16 operative paragraphs

Strongly condemns all human rights violations and abuses committed in Burundi, including those involving extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest and detention, acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and sexual and gender-based violence, and calls for an immediate end to these violations and abuses and for the full respect of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, and notes the alarming increase in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, continuing an alarming trend in place since the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi was set up in 2016;

Urges the Government of Burundi to guarantee the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association, to cease imposing restrictions on civic space, citizen activism, independent media, political participation, including of political opponents, and a free and fair judiciary, to provide a safe and enabling environment for civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, activists, bloggers and other media workers, in particular women working in these professions, enabling them to carry out their work independently, without intimidation or undue interference, to amend restrictive laws governing non-governmental organizations and the media, and to immediately and unconditionally release all those who are still in detention for doing their work in defence of human rights or for exercising their human rights;

Condemns the widespread impunity for all human rights violations and abuses, and urges the Government of Burundi to conduct prompt, independent and transparent investigations into all human rights violations and abuses, to hold all perpetrators, regardless of their affiliation or status, including members of the defence and security forces and of the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, accountable for their actions, and to ensure that victims can seek justice and legal redress, and encourages the Government to reconsider its decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and to honour its legal obligation to cooperate fully with the Court with regard to its ongoing investigation;

Calls upon the Government of Burundi to create the conditions necessary for the holding of an inclusive, transparent and credible presidential election in 2027, and to ensure that all political actors, journalists, election observers, human rights defenders, civil society actors and citizens can participate freely throughout the electoral process, including through election monitoring and observation, in accordance with its international obligations and commitments;

Also calls upon the Government of Burundi to guarantee the full independence of the judiciary;

Further calls upon the Government of Burundi to provide the National Independent Human Rights Commission with all the means necessary to perform its function of promoting and protecting human rights in line with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles); and to ensure its independence;

Calls upon the Government of Burundi to implement fully the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi and the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi, as well as those accepted in the context of the universal periodic review, and to cooperate fully with the special procedures of the Human Rights Council and relevant treaty bodies, and in that respect welcomes the presentation by Burundi of its report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and also calls upon the Government to cooperate fully with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment regarding its planned country visit to Burundi, as announced in July 2026;

⁴CERD/C/BDI/11-19.

Also calls upon the Government of Burundi to refrain from all acts of intimidation or reprisal against human rights defenders, including those who are cooperating with international human rights mechanisms and the Human Rights Council;

Encourages the Government of Burundi to engage in a genuine and inclusive spirit with all Burundian stakeholders, whether operating inside or outside the country, to effectively address the multiple, deep-rooted challenges that Burundi faces and to sustainably reintegrate returnees into Burundian society;

Calls upon the Government of Burundi to take meaningful, concrete steps to combat discrimination in all its forms, ensuring that all individuals within its territory enjoy full and equal human rights and fundamental freedoms, in accordance with international human rights law, and to address the spread of hate speech and incitement to violence, by implementing comprehensive anti-discrimination policies and ensuring accountability;

Decides to extend the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi for a further period of one year, and requests the Special Rapporteur to submit a comprehensive report on the situation of human rights in Burundi to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-sixth session and to the General Assembly at its eighty-second session;

Urges the Government of Burundi to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur, including by permitting unhindered access to the country, by providing all the information necessary for the proper fulfilment of the mandate and facilitating constructive exchanges and synergies with the National Independent Human Rights Commission;

Also urges the Government of Burundi to constructively cooperate with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including its Regional Office for Central Africa, and to continue to cooperate with the United Nations country team in Burundi;

Encourages the Government of Burundi to present a timeline for the reopening of the country office of the Office of the High Commissioner in Burundi, with a mandate to protect, promote and monitor human rights, with unhindered access, and to continue to engage with the Office of the High Commissioner so that it may provide technical assistance and capacity-building;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur with the assistance and all resources necessary to fulfil the mandate with all its functions, as outlined by the Human Rights Council in its resolution 48/16 of 8 October 2021;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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