II. RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Government and Armed Forces of Burundi:

 Permit all camp residents who wish to return home to do so immediately. Provide adequate facilities for those who feel they must remain in the camps for their own safety, in accord with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

 Establish no more regroupment camps in any part of Burundi.

 Immediately direct all members of the Burundian Armed Forces to end the practices of summary execution, rape, and torture, including tightly tying and beating detainees and prisoners (imvuto), as well as the practice of forcing civilians to work for them.

 Investigate allegations of summary executions, rape, beatings, torture, and other abuses by the armed forces, and punish those responsible for such abuses in accordance with internationally accepted procedures. These investigations should include the cases of Nicodème Sibomana and Jean-Marie Bigirimana as well as the behavior of troops at Kavumu camp on May 7.

 Respect international humanitarian law, prohibiting the targeting of civilians and civilian objects in military operations, indiscriminate attacks, looting and unnecessary destruction of civilian property.

 End recruitment and use of persons under the age of eighteen as members of the armed forces or as helpers (doriya) of soldiers. Provide appropriate facilities for the rehabilitation and education of such children, including any from opposition forces who might come into the hands of government authorities.

 Direct administrative authorities to prepare inventories of property confiscated or pillaged from camp residents and seek to restore these goods or to provide some form of just reparation for them.

 Facilitate access by human rights monitors, whether from the United Nations field office or from local or international human rights associations to the province of Bujumbura-rural.
 

To the FNL and other rebel groups:

 Immediately instruct all combatants under your authority to respect international humanitarian law, prohibiting indiscriminate attacks on civilians, rape, and destruction or looting of civilian property.

 End recruitment and use of persons under the age of eighteen as members of your forces or as helpers (doriya) of combatants.

 Investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law by your combatants and insist upon accountability for such violations.

To the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

 Ensure that the United Nations Human Rights Field Office monitor the closing of the camps, including those previously considered inaccessible, in order to ascertain the actual return of people to their homes. If necessary, such monitoring could be done by helicopter.

To the UNICEF:

 Direct protection officers in Burundi to investigate immediately the situation of children used as soldiers and to assist in preparing plans for their rehabilitation and education.

To the Facilitator Nelson Mandela and the International Community:

 Monitor the implementation of the announced decision to close the regroupment camps to ensure that all civilians who wish to go home are allowed to do so.

 Continue to provide aid and assistance to returnees from regroupment and IDP camps.

 Provide necessary resources to the United Nations Human Rights Field Office and seek to ensure that it function effectively in monitoring the closure of the camps and other abuses of human rights.