The Burundian National Assembly adopted important human rights advances in a penal code voted in on November 22, 2008, including abolishing the death penalty and making torture, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity punishable under Burundian law. But three changes to the code are detrimental to human rights. These changes would make consensual homosexual conduct a criminal offense, decriminalize arbitrary detention by state agents, and limit the responsibility of the state to address spousal violence.

The detention of political activist Alexis Sinduhije and 36 others by Burundian police on November 3, 2008, highlights the growing obstacles to the free exercise of civil and political rights in Burundi.

The October 23 conviction by a military tribunal of 15 soldiers for the massacre of 31 civilians in Muyinga province in 2006 is an important blow against impunity in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said today.

As representatives of national and international human rights organizations working in Burundi, we urge you to extend the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Burundi. He has been and should continue to be an effective counselor to the Government of Burundi, a firm support to Burundian civil society organizations, and a passionate voice for victims of human rights abuses.

The ousting of 22 National Assembly members, following a Constitutional Court decision that they could not sit as “independents,” raises serious concerns about double standards given that other independent deputies supporting the government remain in parliament, Human Rights Watch said today. The affected parliamentarians had been elected as members of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, CNDD-FDD), but had left or been expelled from the party following internal divisions.

Burundian police and judicial officials should immediately release the scores of persons still detained solely as suspected members of a movement long opposed to the government, Human Rights Watch said today. They should also instruct security forces to cease such arrests.

The Burundian government should take immediate steps to end the climate of impunity that facilitates illegal detention, mistreatment and torture of individuals by the police, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.