BUJUMBURA March 15th (ABP) – The Ministry of National Solidarity, Social Affairs, Human Rights and Gender, in partnership with the United Nations system to Burundi, organized on Monday March 13, 2023, in Bujumbura, a two-day workshop on capacity building for the drafting of Burundi’s periodic report on the implementation of the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
The assistant to the minister responsible for human rights, Mrs. Tantine Ncutinamagara, specified that the international convention on the elimination of all the forms of racial discrimination is made by a group of independent experts in charge of supervising the implementation of the convention by the member States, and the latter are required to submit regular reports to the committee on the way in which those rights are applied.
She also indicated that the States parties must also submit their reports initially one year after their accession to the convention, then every two years, while pointing out that the committee in turn must also examine each report and address its conclusions and recommendations to the State party in the form of a concluding observation.
With this in mind, the government of Burundi has set up a permanent committee for drafting reports and following up on the recommendations of international mechanisms, which contributes to the implementation of international instruments to which the country is a party, she underlined, adding that this workshop will consist in supporting Burundi in the process of drawing up the periodic report for the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It will also be an opportunity to discuss Burundi’s state of cooperation with international human rights mechanisms, from the point of view of the ratification of treaties, the submission of reports, the production of compilation of the recommendations and the plan for the implementation of these recommendations, she pointed out.
Mrs. Ncutinamagara thus sincerely thanked the UNDP for its technical and financial support, for the promotion of human rights and for its commitment which can be seen through major reforms in the various sectors of the country’s life, in order to be in line with international human rights instruments.
As for the principal adviser of the United Nations coordination office in Burundi, Mr. Bamazi Kassi Tchaa, the drafting of reports intended for the treaty bodies is a highly strategic activity making it possible to create the conditions for the realization of the rights of the people of Burundi. It provides the tools needed to establish the policies, strategies and program whose implementation enhances the enjoyment and exercise of human rights. Mr. Bamazi was also able to announce that the collection of information and the analysis of data which precede the drafting of reports, the interactive dialogue with experts are opportunities to deepen the understanding of the challenges haunting the country and to identify appropriate solutions for the effectiveness of human rights.
According to Mr. Bamazi, the importance of that activity is that it leads to the finalization of draft reports for the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, twenty-six years since the last report in Burundi that the committee examined in 1997. He also stressed that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which is the department of the United Nations with leadership on the issue of human rights at the global level, calls on States and all national and international stakeholders, to actively engage in commemorative activities in order to place the values and the principle of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the heart of the search for solutions to the current and future sufferings of humanity.
He reiterated his heartfelt thanks to the authorities of Burundi for the climate of peace and security conducive to cooperation between the two parties. He promised the Government the full availability of the United Nations system to collaborate in all initiatives aimed at strengthening the achievements and Burundi’s human rights progress.