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The international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday railed against the proposal, floated at the latest round of Burundi peace talks in Arusha, for an amnesty for those who had committed crimes against humanity. “An amnesty in Burundi is exactly the wrong direction to take,” HRW Executive Director for Africa Peter Takirambudde stated in a press release. “How can there be any hope of justice and order ... if crimes of this magnitude are left unpunished?”
Takirumbudde’s report advocated the creation of a new division of the existing ICTR to prosecute crimes committed in Burundi, stating that Rwandan Hutus represented almost half the combatants in some rebel units operating around the capital, Bujumbura. “Many of them are soldiers of the former Rwandan government, responsible for the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda,” it added. HRW also proposed the use of foreign jurists within Burundi’s courts to speed up the judicial process for thousands of people accused of ethnic killings and other attacks since 1993. “If a peace is cobbled together without justice for Burundi, this will be felt throughout the region,” Takirambudde warned.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions