UN experts call for release of Burundi human rights defender Germain Rukuki

In a public statement of 25 August, a group of UN experts called for the release of Germain Rukuki, a human rights defender from Burundi who has been detained since 13 July 2017. According to the experts, the decision to maintain M. Rukuki in detention without concrete indications of guilt seems arbitrary and conflicts with the country’s criminal […]

Marguerite Barankitse awarded the Aurora Prize

Marguerite Barankitse from Maison Shalom and REMA Hospital in Burundi was named as the inaugural Laureate of the $1 million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. Her amazing work saving thousands of orphans and refugees during the years of civil war in Burundi was recognized on April 24th in Yerevan as she was handed the prize by […]

Advocating for Burundian human rights defenders at the United Nations Human Rights Council

Protection International alongside representatives from the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP), CIVICUS, and CSOLifeline, met with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, on the margins of the 31st session of the Human Rights Council, to discuss the deteriorating human rights situation and the threats faced by […]

Pierre Claver urges the UN Human Rights Council to protect HRDS in Burundi

On Friday 4, 2016 at the 31st Session of the Human Rights Council, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, President of APRODH read a statement urging the Human Rights Council to take measures to protect human rights defenders in Burundi. Joint statement by EHAHRDP, CIVICUS, and Protection International for  the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights […]

Burundi human rights crisis: a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council

On  November 9th a group of 11 International NGOs, issued a joint statement to the UN Human Rights Council, calling for a special session of the Council to adopt a resolution in response to the rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in Burundi. Despite the efforts made by the international community to monitor and improve the human rights situation in the […]

Voices that cannot be silenced: Pierre Claver Mbonimpa speaks out on Burundi

Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a leading Burundian Human Rights Defender (HRD), speaks about surviving an assassination attempt and the dangers facing activists in Burundi. On 3 August 2015, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was shot in the face and neck as he returned home in his car from the office.  He survived the attack and is currently living […]

Burundi: PI participates with the National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) to support the protection of human rights defenders

Burundi: The National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) invited Protection International to a roundtable to discuss the issues affecting HRDs in the country and to analyze the contents of a draft public law to protect HRDs, prepared by the CNIDH. Protection International contributed by sharing its expertise in the following areas: • Provide details of similar legislative processes […]

Burundi: Serious threats to FOCODE and its President Pacifique Ninahazwe

Pacifique Nininahazwe, one of the leading representatives of Burundian civil society and of the NGO of which he is the President, Forum pour la Conscience et le Développement(FOCODE), has for the last three weeks been the target of anonymous telephone calls and messages on social media making serious threats to him personally and to his family. These […]