BUJUMBURA February 24th (ABP) – Prime Minister Alain Guillaume Bunyoni received in audience on Tuesday, February 22, 2022 in his office, the chairman of the Independent National Commission for Human Rights (CNIDH), Dr Sixte Vigny Nimuraba, who came to present the report of the achievements of that institution for the financial year 2021.
At the end of the audience, the Prime Minister revealed to the press that the report of the CNIDH is presented to the government with the aim of listening to the independent national commission of human rights, to inform the government on the progress of activities, let it know some of its challenges and give the government proposals. The government can also provide advice to that commission, but also inform the commission of the government’s concerns in that area.
According to the Prime Minister, the government is satisfied with the work already carried out by the CNIDH, specifying that the latter is characterized by very good collaboration with all the stakeholders, including the government, other State bodies and working life organizations of the country.
He added that in its role of protection and defense of human rights, in order to realize or investigate abuses and other crimes that are against human rights, it does it to the satisfaction.
Mr. Bunyoni did not forget to point out that the CNIDH has worked to allow Burundi to take another step at the level of the international community, by reaching status A, which has allowed Burundi to be considered as a responsible country at the level of legal tools, at the level of regulations and at the institutional level, to have bodies that are able to monitor the human rights situation.
Regarding the report for the year 2021, he pointed out that the latter demonstrates that all the cases that have been raised in the field of non-respect for human rights have been dealt with and that no case has been left behind.
In the case of the concerns of the members of the Lower House of Parliament which were raised during the presentation of that report to the national assembly, the Prime Minister considered the reaction of the MPs to be normal, insofar as the latter must monitor the activities of that commission and seek explanations or even ask questions in relation to the complaints or moods of the people they represent.
Mr. Bunyoni took the opportunity to congratulate the representatives of the people for being vigilant in making observations in the direction of making the report much more understandable to the recipients, while avoiding doubts and confusion at the level of the population.
Among the questions posed was why the report appeared to be one-sided, accusing it of only targeting the official side of the government. On that, the Prime Minister affirmed that this is completely normal, meaning that the CNIDH is responsible for ensuring that the authorities of the State respect human rights, not only by preventing the officials of the government and public institutions from committing abuses that do not respect human rights, it must also be reassured that the protection and prevention against crimes relating to human rights are ensured by the government.
He took the opportunity to inform that the other people who can commit crimes being independent, is up to the government to investigate this, to apprehend those people in order to punish them in accordance with laws and regulations and to restore the victims in their rights and not to the CNIDH.
As the Prime Minister pointed out, the government of Burundi appreciates the way the CNIDH works. He took the opportunity to ask the latter to further strengthen its work. He also explained that it is the responsibility of the State via the defense and security forces in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, to prevent, defend human rights, protect the people, restore the victims and sanction the perpetrators.