P 030935Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1362
INFO RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUJUMBURA 000060 
 
 
LONDON, PARIS, PLEASE PASS TO AF WATCHERS; DEPT FOR IO/RHS 
AMY OSTERMEIER AND GAYATARI PATEL, DRL/MLGA CHRIS SIBILLA, 
AND IO/PSC DEBORAH ODELL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM USUN BY
SUBJECT: BURUNDI: UN FIELD COVERAGE OF HUMAN RIGHTS 
 
REF: A. STATE 2023 
     ¶B. BUJUMBURA 37 
 
Classified By: Ambassador P.Moller for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  The UN's Human Rights operation in Burundi 
consists of two administratively separate but operationally 
integrated missions: the Office of the High Commission for 
Human Rights (OHCHR) and United Nations Integrated Bureau in 
Burundi (BINUB).  Forty UN human rights employees are 
headquartered in the capital Bujumbura, and five field 
offices, staffed by eight to ten employees each, provide 
coverage for monitoring and training in the interior of the 
country. The UN's human rights team has been very successful 
in monitoring and publishing human rights violations, 
communicating with security forces and the diplomatic 
community, and focusing its attention on high-profile court 
cases and political detainees.  The UN is still faced with 
the challenge of advocating for a National Independent Human 
Rights Commission, establishing a politically-sensitive Truth 
and Reconciliation Commission, and speaking with a unified 
voice across UN agencies.  The Government of Burundi (GOB) 
has an ambivalent relationship with the UN, but collaboration 
at a working level remains positive.  Post recommends that 
the UN be encouraged not to sacrifice its role as an 
outspoken proponent of human rights in order to fulfill its 
political role in Burundi.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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UN Human Rights Operations in Burundi 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Eighty UN human rights employees work for the two 
administratively different but operationally seamless human 
rights agencies in Burundi.  In addition to the 40 employees 
based at the headquarters in Bujumbura, 40 employees work in 
one of five field offices based in the interior of the 
country.  Each field office conducts investigations of human 
rights violations and provides training to security forces 
and civil society. 
 
-------------------- 
Strengths/Successes 
-------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The UN has done a great job establishing effective 
communication with GOB security forces.  Each week, in 
coordination with civil society, the UN leads a meeting with 
police, intelligence, and military representatives to discuss 
and follow up on investigations and alleged human rights 
violations by security forces.  The representatives willingly 
participate and discuss the outstanding issues of the day, 
even if it is only to acknowledge a violation has taken 
place.  Also, representatives of the security services and 
some GOB Ministers actively participate in monthly UN 
briefings to the diplomatic corps on the human rights 
environment in Burundi.  The UN also widely and publicly 
participates in high-profile trials and prison visits to 
political prisoners. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The UN human rights operations do a thorough job of 
monitoring human rights abuses throughout the country, and 
then regularly diffusing their reports to the international 
community, the media, and the GOB.  The UN also conducts 
capacity-building and awareness exercises for security forces 
throughout the country to complement broader international 
community security sector reform efforts.  The UN received 
high praise for a highly successful 2008 Universal Periodic 
Review (UPR) of Burundi's human rights environment with the 
participation of international human rights experts, 
Burundi-based UN representatives, and Burundian civil society 
members in Geneva.  The UPR served to raise the profile of 
the deteriorating situation of human rights in Burundi. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The UN is doing extensive rehabilitation of 
Burundi's judicial infrastructure throughout the country, and 
is providing logistical and financial assistance to the 
judicial branch to help expedite the overwhelming backlog of 
cases facing the court system.  Thousands of cases remain to 
be handled, but thousands more have already been processed. 
The UN also collaborated with the Vice-Ministry of Human 
Rights to produce a highly-praised draft law for the creation 
of a National Commission on Human Rights.  The proposed 
Commission strictly adhered to the Paris Principles, the 
international standards for the establishment of such a human 
rights commission. 
 
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Challenges 
----------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Critics in civil society argue that the integration 
of the OHCHR into BINUB has prevented the UN from being more 
outspoken in criticizing GOB actions, as BINUB tries to limit 
its political exposure.  For example, BINUB is part of a 
group of international actors negotiating the provisions of a 
cease-fire agreement between Burundi's last rebel group, the 
FNL, and the GOB.  According to one civil society critic, in 
order for the UN to maintain its "neutrality" in the 
negotiations, it cannot be overcritical of the government, 
lest it find itself on the wrong side of the GOB and no 
longer an effective negotiator. 
 
¶7.  (C) The UN is facing major challenges in establishing a 
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).  The GOB continues 
to put up roadblocks to delay the establishment of a 
commission and it will take persistent pressure by the UN to 
ensure that a TRC is eventually established in Burundi. 
Also, the UN will have to continue its lobbying efforts with 
Parliamentarians to ensure that the revised draft law to 
establish a stripped-down National Human Rights Commission is 
not enacted.  The proposed Commission would be a powerless 
organization that would be unable to effect real human rights 
change in Burundi. 
 
¶8.  (C) Human rights abuses, particularly limits on freedom 
of expression and arbitrary detention, are increasing in 
Burundi as 2010 elections approach.  The ruling party is less 
and less receptive to any criticism that may imperil its 
chances at a reelection victory in 2010.  The UN is having a 
difficult time addressing these often blatant violations of 
human rights and subsequent lack of due process by the 
Burundian judicial authorities. 
 
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UN relationship with GOB 
------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) Bujumbura's Attorney General told an Embassy official 
in January that the UN's human rights operations have little 
to no impact on GOB actions, and characterized the GOB's 
attitude towards the UN as ambivalent.  A high-ranking Hutu 
member of President Nkurunziza's staff told the director of 
UN human rights operations in Burundi that the UN and its 
agenda is manipulated by its mostly Tutsi local staff and 
therefore not reliable.  Opposition parties' representatives 
also told Embassy officials in January that even if UN human 
rights criticisms complement their own condemnations of the 
ruling party, it is difficult to assess if the UN has a 
meaningful impact. 
 
------------------------ 
Recommendation for U.S. 
------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (C) Post recommends that the UN be encouraged to be more 
outspoken in its criticism of the GOB, especially in light of 
recent high profile arrests of journalists, opposition 
leaders, and a labor unionist (ref B).  It would be useful if 
the UN could lead an international community effort to engage 
the GOB on these egregious human rights violations, and 
highlight the possible long term effects such actions can 
have on international goodwill towards Burundi.  Further, in 
light of the coming elections, the UN needs to take a strong 
and outspoken stand against GOB actions to marginalize 
political opposition, in order to ensure a free and fair 
outcome in 2010. 
 
 
Moller