Burundi: Protect Independent Human Rights Reporting - Authorities should reverse decision to expel international human rights worker

A group of 18 national, regional and international organizations working on Burundi today expressed concern that space for independent human rights reporting may be diminishing following the Burundian government’s decision to expel the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Burundi researcher from the country.  The organizations call on the Burundian authorities to reverse their decision and ensure that the rights to freedom of expression are respected.

 

This attack on independent human rights reporting came just days before Burundi’s communal elections on 24 May, the first in a series of five elections that are to take place in 2010. The elections are a crucial moment in Burundi’s history, a country recovering from more than a decade of civil war.

 

In a letter to the HRW researcher, Ms Neela Ghoshal, on 18 May 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation informed Ms Ghoshal that her accreditation as HRW’s representative in the country was withdrawn. She was asked to immediately stop her activities and to leave the country by 5 June 2010.

 

In the letter, the authorities cited a recent HRW report on pre-election violence as the reason for their decision. According to the letter, the report was biased against the government and the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.  They alleged it failed to give sufficient attention to the authorities’ attempts to overcome human rights violations in the pre-electoral period.

 

HRW stated in a 19 May release that they stand by the research noting that it documents human rights abuses by different groups, not just the ruling party and that the research respected professional standards of objectivity.

 

“The decision by the authorities is not only an attack on one highly respected rights activist but on independent human rights work in Burundi.” said Hassan Shire Sheikh, executive director of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project. “Given the importance of ensuring credible and impartial rights monitoring, the decision is concerning and gives the wrong signals at this crucial time in the country’s history.”

 

Ms Ghoshal has worked in Burundi for almost three years and documented a range of rights violations from mob violence to police abuses.   Ms Ghoshal has an excellent record of engagement and collaboration with other human rights organizations working in Burundi, collaboration which has proven time and again to be effective in helping to advance key rights in the country.

 

“Coming just weeks after the de-facto expulsion of HRW’s researcher in Rwanda, this development may signal a worrying trend for independent international rights reporting in the region,” said Véronique Aubert, Africa deputy director at Amnesty International.  “The international community should act swiftly to condemn expulsions of international human rights workers and call on Burundian authorities to re-instate HRW’s work authorisation.”

Recommendations
 
To the Burundian authorities

* Ensure that rights to freedom of expression are respected.
* Reinstate the work authorisation of Human Rights Watch’s Burundi researcher, Neela Ghoshal.

 

To the international community

* Condemn the expulsion of an international human rights worker from Burundi.
* Call on the Burundian authorities to re-instate the work authorization for Human Rights Watch’s Burundi researcher.

 

- May 28, 2010 by Defend Defenders

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Source: allafrica.com/stories/201005280749.html (accessed on 31.05.10)