In a joint letter released today, 40+ Burundian, African, and international NGOs call on the UN Human Rights Council to extend the vital mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Burundi.
“As serious human rights violations and abuses continue to be committed in Burundi in a context of widespread impunity, and as the country has entered a long electoral cycle [that] is associated with multiple risk factors of grave human rights violations and atrocities,” they write, “the UN Human Rights Council should maintain its scrutiny of the country.”
In their call, released ahead of the Council’s 60th session (HRC60, 8 September-8 October 2025), the signatories highlight that ten years after the start of the still unresolved 2015 crisis, Burundi’s human rights situation remains of serious concern and that violations continue with impunity.
Since the adoption of Council resolution 57/22, in October 2024, the human rights situation has deteriorated further. As Burundi has entered a long electoral cycle that started with the 2025 legislative and communal elections and will culminate with the 2027 presidential election, and in light of previous cycles of abuse prior to, during, and after elections, the international community should remain mobilised to ensure scrutiny of the situation in Burundi. Among other things, it should preserve the Special Rapporteur’s documentation role and his ability to report to the Council.