Civil society organisations in Burundi have documented widespread human rights abuses including rape, torture, forced disappearances and extrajudicial executions as United Nations experts warned over an increase in severe human rights violations in Burundi.
UN experts highlighted attacks against political opponents, saying these abuses were allegedly carried out by state agents or individuals acting with their complicity, creating a climate of widespread impunity.
According to findings by civil society organisations, between January 2024 and May 2025, at least 200 cases of sexual violence, including incidents involving child rape. The groups also recorded 58 enforced disappearances, 62 acts of torture, 892 arbitrary detentions, and 605 extrajudicial executions, painting a grim national picture.
According to experts,
these violations are reportedly used to intimidate citizens during elections, benefiting the ruling CNDD-FDD party, they added in a statement. In a June election, the incumbent party claimed 96 percent of the vote and won all 100 parliamentary seats, consolidating its political control.
UN-appointed independent experts stressed that their observations do not represent the United Nations as a whole, but reflect careful, on-the-ground documentation. President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who assumed power in 2020 after Pierre Nkurunziza’s 15-year rule, has alternated between signs of liberalisation and tightened political control.
Non-government groups and UN observers note that Ndayishimiye’s administration has increasingly resorted to repression, echoing patterns from his predecessor’s iron-fisted governance. The experts’ report paints a stark portrait of a nation where fear, violence, and political domination overshadow democratic institutions and civil liberties.
Source:Africa Publicity
