BUJUMBURA, December 12th (ABP) – On the occasion of the celebration of the 76th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes of Genocide, the National Observatory for the Prevention and Eradication of Genocide, War Crimes and Other Crimes Against Humanity (ONPGH), issued a statement in Bujumbura on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.
In that statement, ONPGH President Jean de Dieu Mutabazi began by recalling that genocide is a crime against humanity aimed at the total or partial destruction of a national, racial, ethnic or even religious group.
In his view, genocide is the most extreme form of war crime and crime against humanity.
Since 1948, he said, the United Nations has adopted a Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The said declaration states that since December 20, 2021, on the basis of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Parliament of the Republic of Burundi has declared, in its resolution, that the crimes against humanity and war crimes of the period 1972-1973 was a genocide of the Bahutu of Burundi.
The declaration recalls that that genocide, perpetrated against the Bahutu of Burundi in 1972-1973 under the 1st Republic, was continued in the 2nd Republic by ethnic discrimination against the Bahutu, in schools under the u/i system, the u designating the Hutu, the i designating the Tutsi students. Bearing also in mind that on October 10, 2024, during the plenary session on crimes against humanity against civilian populations, the ambassador representing Burundi at the United Nations solemnly called for international recognition of the bloodiest genocide against the Bahutu of Burundi in 1972-1973.
For all those reasons, the ONPGH once again reiterates its position that the 1972-1973 crime against humanity, against the Hutus of Burundi, was genocide. The Observatory took the opportunity to pay tribute to all the victims of the 1972-1973 genocide and their families, and called for April 29 to be a day of remembrance, so that widows, orphans and survivors can regain their full dignity.
The ONPGH asked the Secretary General of the United Nations to respond favorably to the request of Burundian diplomacy and to recognize that the mass crimes perpetrated against the Hutus in 1972-1973 constituted genocide of the Hutus of Burundi.
According to the same statement, the ONPGH notes that there has been no threat of mass atrocity crimes in Burundi for some twenty years. The Observatory is also pleased to note that all players in government, parliament and the judiciary, as well as political, religious and civil society actors, are working in synergy to consolidate the country’s stability, consolidate civil and social peace, and strengthen social cohesion.
Burundi acceded to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes of Genocide 28 years ago. Since 2003, it has passed a law punishing the crime of genocide, and has set up the ONPGH, which works in synergy with the other institutions of the Republic, as well as with the member countries of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Countries (ICGLR).