The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) [official website] on Monday urged [text, PDF] the Burundi government to allow UN police officers into the country to monitor potential human rights abuses. CERD says it has deep concerns about the Burundi government’s responses to reports of armed militia intimidating civilians, the use of “hate speech” by government officials to “incite ethnic violence” and the growing number of Burundi citizens leaving the country “to seek refuge in neighboring countries,” among other things. The document urges the Burundi government to:

abide by its international human rights obligations, in particular those arising from the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and refrain from taking any action that exacerbates the ethnic tensions in the country; take prompt and effective action to protect civilians, including through the immediate admission of the police officers approved by the Security Council; and promptly reengage with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

CERD Chairperson Anastasia Crickley said [press release], “[w]e therefore call on the Government to step back from any actions that risk stoking ethnic conflict and that could even be a precursor to mass atrocities.”

Burundi has been the object of much international scrutiny over potential human rights abuses. In October the National Assembly of Burundi [official website, in French] voted [JURIST report] overwhelmingly to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the midst of an ICC investigation against President Pierre Nkurunziza [official website, in French]. The UN Independent Investigation in Burundi (UNIIB) in September expressed its grave concern about potential human rights abuses. Three human rights experts from UNIIB in June echoed [JURIST report] previous calls for a stop to ethnic violence after their second visit to the country.