Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  As I have been saying for some time, the first point to work on is maintaining dialogue with the authorities in Burundi. We must not isolate them, but we must work with them so that we can make them aware of the international community's concern. If Canada were to become involve

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I believe that they are so powerless because the UN's entire logic is built on the strict respect for state sovereignty. You do not need me to tell you that one state cannot watch another state interfere in the internal affairs of another state. In the case of the UN, it's exactl

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  There is one approach that has had varying degrees of success, but we are seeing there have been some results. I'm referring to regional action. I think we need to convince the African Union to put a little more pressure on the Burundian authorities to convince them to co-operate

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think the results of adopting the resolution show that the pressure must first go through the UN. In fact, we're still seeing that a large number of states haven't understood the seriousness of the situation there. We have the impression that UN member states have very little

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Of course. I think that in adopting this resolution and implementing this commission, the UN Human Rights Council is in reality pursuing an objective that complements the referral of the situation to the International Human Rights Council. There are two approaches here: a judici

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The difficulty won't be maintaining the dialogue with authorities in Burundi but renewing it. The Burundian authorities had accepted the arrival of three independent experts, who submitted their report on September 20, 2016. These three experts were able to visit, but the report

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Of course. We met with these four lawyers when they came to Geneva. They were there during the hearing of the Burundian authorities because they had been involved in developing the report or the counter report of a collective of non-government organizations with which they were

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  We have also consulted satellite evidence, sent to us by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the ground. The issue is that direct access to the mass graves is impossible right now without the permission of the Burundian authorities. Clearly, lig

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Our finding clearly shows that the current president is responsible for the current situation in Burundi. His decision to run for a third term is in completely at odds with the Arusha peace agreement, which had managed to maintain an ethnic balance in Burundi's institutions. I d

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That was one of the questions we asked the Burundian delegation when they came to Geneva. We have no idea where he is. In fact, we don't even know whether he's still alive. Unfortunately, we received no answers to our questions.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Of course, I was about to wrap up. So I was saying that the main risk we are seeing has to do with the genocidal rhetoric being developed, which means that immediate oversight measures must be taken to prevent Burundian authorities from committing such a crime. Ethnic tensions a

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Right now, the issue is that the officials of the commission that will be set up have not yet received the approval of the Burundian authorities to go there. If the authorities agree to receive the members of the commission of inquiry on Burundian territory, the members will clea

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you, Mr. Vice-Chair. As you know, at its last session in July and August, the Committee Against Torture had to consider a special report prepared by the authorities of Burundi regarding the implementation of the convention against torture and especially various alleged vio