Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said on Thursday 25 October that comments made by Burundi’s UN ambassador the previous day, were “deeply regrettable in both tone and substance” and demanded that it “immediately retracts” its threat to try and prosecute members of a UN Commission of Inquiry into rights abuses in the central African nation.

She also raised concern over the Burundian Government’s “complete failure” to address the very serious findings of the Commission of Inquiry. On Wednesday, the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Burundi to the UN, Albert Shingiro, had attacked this independent international inquiry team, threatening to prosecute its members and compared Commission Chair, Doudou Diène, to a participant in the slave trade [SIC].

Amazingly Burundi is also a current member of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/02/08/what-is-burundi-doing-in-the-un-human-rights-council/].

“I urge the Government of Burundi to issue an immediate retraction of this inflammatory statement and to offer a full apology to Mr. Diène and the other Commissioners, as well as to the Human Rights Council, which created the Commission, and its President who selected and appointed the three Commissioners,” she said.