U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 1997 - Burundi

Publisher	United States Department of State
Publication Date	30 January 1998
Cite as	United States Department of State, U.S. Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 1997 - Burundi, 30 January 1998, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aa256.html [accessed 6 June 2023]
Disclaimer	This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, January 30, 1998.

BURUNDI

President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya was overthrown in a military coup on July 25, 1996. The National Assembly and political parties operate under significant constraints. The regime headed by self-proclaimed interim president, Major Pierre Buyoya, abrogated the 1992 Constitution and the 1994 Convention of Government. The Buyoya regime promulgated a decree on September 13, 1996 which replaced the Constitution during the so-called Transition Period. Under this decree, the National Assembly does not have the power to remove the President of the Republic. The Prime Minister, appointed by the President, replaces the President in the event of the President's death or incapacity. Under the abrogated Constitution, the President of the National Assembly replaced the President. The judicial system is controlled by the Tutsi minority.

Buyoya holds power in conjunction with the Tutsi-dominated establishment forces. The country has been engaged in a civil war marked by ethnic violence, which includes fighting between the Tutsi-dominated army and armed Hutu rebel groups. The fighting has caused widespread civilian casualties since its beginning in October 1993.

Security forces consist of the army and the gendarmerie under the Ministry of Defense, the judicial police under the Ministry of Justice, and the Documentation Service under the presidency. The army and the security services remain committed to protecting the interests of the Tutsi minority. The security forces committed numerous, serious, human rights abuses.

Burundi is poor and densely populated, with over four-fifths of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. The small modern sector, based largely on the export of coffee and tea, has been damaged by an economic embargo imposed by neighboring states in July 1996. The ongoing violence since 1993 has caused severe economic disruption and dislocation. Large numbers of internally displaced persons have been unable to produce their own food crops and depend largely on international humanitarian assistance. Government efforts to privatize parastatal enterprises are at a virtual halt. Per capita national income is estimated at less than $200 per year.

The human rights situation remains poor. Despite Buyoya's avowed intention to end abuses by the military forces, security forces continued to commit numerous, serious, human rights abuses, which the Government was largely unable or unwilling to prevent. Perpetrators generally were not punished.

Military forces committed extrajudicial killings, including massacres of unarmed civilian Hutus. With their superior firepower and wide dispersion, the armed forces committed the most widespread abuses. Tutsi civilian extremists sometimes accompanied the armed forces during operations, and the armed forces permitted them to engage in violence against Hutus. There continued to be numerous disappearances. There were credible reports of torture of prisoners. Prison conditions remain life threatening. Arbitrary arrest and lengthy pretrial detention are problems. The court system suffers from a lengthy backlog. The dysfunctional justice system could not effectively address the country's problems because of its lack of independence, inefficiency, administrative disruption, and the partiality of its Tutsi officials. Authorities infringed on citizens' privacy rights. The Government controls nearly all the media. The Government restricts freedom of assembly and prohibits political demonstrations. The Government limits freedom of association. The Government place some restrictions on freedom of movement.

According to an international human rights organization, fewer civilians were killed that in the previous year; however, serious incidents of ethnically motivated destruction and extrajudicial killing occurred throughout the country.

Government efforts to restore security were inadequate. Armed troops, civilian militias, and rebel forces killed both armed and unarmed ethnic rivals, including women, children, and the elderly. Land mines killed and injured many persons, mostly noncombatants. Members of the armed forces, vigilante groups, and rebel groups committed serious human rights violations with impunity. The continuing lack of accountability for killings and ethnic violence and impunity for those responsible for the 1993 coup attempt and the ethnic massacres that followed contributed significantly to national insecurity.

Citizens do not have the right to change their government. Legal and societal discrimination against women continues to be a serious problem; violence against women also occurs. Ethnic discrimination against Hutus is widespread. The Twa (Pygmy) minority remains marginalized economically, socially, and politically. The Government cannot protect the rights of children or prevent discrimination against the disabled.

Tutsi militias committed serious abuses. However, a human rights organization reported that there were fewer instances of armed Tutsi vigilantes engaging in violence against Hutus.

Hutu rebel forces committed serious abuses, including massacres of both Hutu and Tutsi civilians.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

Amnesty international estimated that between October 1993 and August 1997. Approximately 200,000 people were killed in ethnic violence, according to independent reports. An international relief organization estimated that between 4,500 to 9,000 persons (an average of 500 to 1000 persons per month) were killed during the first 9 months of the year.

According to international observers, during the month of January, in Buteganzwa and Rango Communes, Kayanza province, government troops summarily executed 200 to 300 young Hutu men as well as a number of women and children, while forcibly resettling the local Hutu population into regroupment camps. According to an international human rights organization, on January 5, soldiers and vigilantes attacked civilians in Bukeye Commune, Muramvya province, killing 26 persons.

On January 10, in Muyinga province near the Kobero border crossing, according to a number of sources, gendarmes killed between 122 and 128 Burundian Hutu refugees who had been expelled from Tanzania and were believed to belong to an armed rebel group. Following this incident, the regional military commander was replaced and the gendarmes taken into custody.

On March 1, according to an international human rights organization, soldiers killed 37 persons in Muhuta Commune, Bujumbura Rural province. On March 27, at the village of Mitonto, Rumonge Commune, Bururi province, government troops killed 147 civilians, according to independent press reports. The Government initially claimed that its troops had killed only 4 persons, but later revised the total number of deaths to 57 persons. On April 1, the Government announced that it had sent an investigation team into the area.

On May 7, according to a Western observer, government troops killed 10 to 15 persons and wounded a number of others in Isare Commune, Bujumbura Rural province. On May 11, according to an international human rights organization, soldiers ordered civilians in Kanyosha Commune, Bujumbura Rural province, to assemble, then fired upon them, killing 15 persons. Several sources reported that on May 15, at the pentecostal church of Mugendo, Bujumbura Rural province, soldiers arrested 45 persons, executed 42 of them, and wounded three other persons.

According to a Western observer, on June 6, soldiers based at Mugendo, Bujumbura Rural province, killed 17 civilians who were returning to their homes in Muhuta Commune, Bujumbura Rural province.

On June 13, according to a Western source, in Bujumbura Rural province, government troops fired on villagers participating in a funeral ceremony, killing six persons and wounding four others.

In early August, an antitank mine detonated in Cibitoke province killing nine persons, according to an international relief organization.

The Government concluded the trials of several hundred persons accused of conspiracy in the ethnic massacres following the October 1993 death of former president Melchior Ndadaye. According to an international human rights organization, 44 persons were convicted and sentenced to death during 1997. More than 100 persons have been convicted and sentenced to death since March 1996. On July 31, the Government executed six of those convicted.

The three persons accused of the 1995 killings of Italian religious workers in Bururi province have not been brought to justice. According to a high-ranking official, the Government is seeking the extradition of the accused perpetrators from Rwanda and Uganda, to which they are believed to have fled following their "escape from custody" in 1995.

The Government's investigation of the June 1996, killing in Cibitoke province of three expatriate employees of the ICRC by unknown gunmen has not produced any arrests. The Government claims that Hutu rebels were responsible for the murders, but others accuse the army.

In early August, FRODEBU party parliamentarian Paul Sirahenda and his chauffeur disappeared in Makamba province. Sirahenda's burned-out car was found near the Tanzanian border. Sirahenda and his chauffeur were not found. According to FRODEBU, Sirahenda is the twenty-third regular or alternate FRODEBU parliamentarian killed since the October 1993 coup. In 1996 the military forces claimed that they had arrested 25 suspects involved in some of these killings and disappearances. However, none of the suspects has been tried for any of these killings or the attempted killings of several prominent Hutu politicians.

On January 2 and 3, according to an international human rights organization, Hutu rebels attacked the commune of Bubanza, Bubanza province. They killed 14 persons and injured 9 others.

On January 12 and 13, according to an international human rights organization, Hutu rebels attacked the commune of Rugombo, Cibitoke province. They killed 22 persons and wounded 4 others.

On March 8, three people were killed in Kanyosha commune, Bujumbura rural province, by Hutu rebels, according to an international human rights organization.

On March 19 and 20, according to a Western observer, Hutu rebels attacked three regroupment camps in Buganda Commune, Cibitoke province and killed 153 persons.

On July 20, in the Kabonza section of Nyanza-Lac Commune, Makamba province, Hutu rebels killed 13 civilians, burned a number of houses and stole cattle, according to a Western source.

Hutu rebels killed Hutu civilians who refused to pay "taxes" to the rebels.

b. Disappearance

Human rights groups reported that abductions and disappearances were commonplace throughout the year. Disappearances were the result of both ethnic and political rivalry. Reliable numerical estimates are not available. See Section 1.a. for information regarding the June 13 disappearance of FRODEBU party parliamentarian Paul Sirahenda.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Both the decree of September 13, 1996, and the suspended constitution prohibit these abuses; however, members of the security forces continued to torture and otherwise abuse persons.

Conditions in state-run prisons were life threatening and characterized by severe overcrowding and inadequate hygiene, clothing, medical care, food, and water. Prisoners must rely on family members to provide an adequate diet, and officials acknowledged that digestive illness was a serious problem among the prisoners. Women were housed separately from men. U.N. human rights monitors and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross were permitted to visit prisons.

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The law prohibits arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile; however, arbitrary arrest and detention are problems. The law places no limit on the total length of pretrial detention. Presiding magistrates are authorized to issue arrest warrants. Regular police and gendarmes can make arrests without a warrant but must submit a written report to a magistrate within 48 hours of any arrest. A magistrate can order the suspect released or confirm the charges and continue detention, initially for 15 days, then subsequently for periods of 30 days as necessary to prepare the case for trial.

The law requires arrest warrants. The police must follow the same procedures as magistrates, but have detained suspects for extended periods without announcing charges, certifying the cases, or forwarding them to the Ministry of Justice as required. There were numerous instances of arbitrary arrest. Bail was permitted in some cases. According to a human rights organization, incommunicado detention exists, although the law prohibits it.

The disruption of the political process and the general level of insecurity severely impeded the judicial process. There are reportedly more than 7,000 pretrial detainees, or about 80 percent of the prison population.

Ex-president and Parena party leader Jean-Baptiste Bagaza has been under house arrest since March 16. He is accused of plotting against the life of the President and illegal possession of military weapons.

On July 4, 44 of the 79 people detained for alleged involvement in the 1993 coup attempt were arraigned before the Supreme Court; 29 entered pleas. All 29 pled not guilty.

Around September 1, Louis Ntureka, FRODEBU member and accountant of the National Assembly, was arrested at a roadblock in Bujumbura and accused of being in contact with armed Hutu rebels. On September 2, Callixte Masabo, an agronomist and FRODEBU member who is the director of the Government's regional development society of Rumonge in Bururi province was arrested and accused of being in contact with armed Hutu rebels. Around September 5, Doctor Sylvere Sakubu, a member of the 47-member national committee of FRODEBU, was arrested at his home in Bujumbura and accused of being in contact with armed Hutu rebels. On September 18, Uprona party leader Charles Mukasi was arrested and released the same day for conducting an unauthorized press conference.

One human rights organization estimates that the authorities hold from 500 to 1000 political detainees.

The Government has not used forced exile as a means of political control. However, many people remain in voluntary exile in Belgium, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, and elsewhere. Many senior officials keep their families outside the country. A number of officials of the government of deposed president Sylvestre Ntibantunganya fled the country in August 1996, and have not returned.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The September 1996 decree provides for an independent judiciary, but in practice the judiciary is not independent and is dominated by Tutsis. According to an international human rights organization, Hutus accounted for only 5 percent of the country's 638 judges. Most citizens assume that the courts promote the interests of the dominant Tutsi minority; members of the Hutu majority believe that the Tutsi-dominated judicial system is biased against them.

The judicial system is divided into civil and criminal courts with the Supreme Court at the apex. The military forces have a separate judicial system.

Citizens do not have regular access to civilian and military court proceedings, although trials are theoretically public. Defendants are presumed innocent and have the right to appeal. While defendants have a right to counsel and to defend themselves, few have legal representation in practice. The civil court system functioned, although the lack of a well-trained and adequately supported judiciary constrained expeditious proceedings. In 1996 criminal courts were reestablished in Bujumbura and in the provincial centers of Gitega and Ngozi. Besides the frequent lack of counsel for the accused, other major shortcomings in the legal system include a lack of adequate funding and trained personnel and an outmoded legal code. Many citizens have lost confidence in the system's ability to provide even basic protection. The vast majority of those arrested on criminal charges since October 1993 remained in custody awaiting trial.

According to an international human rights organization, during the year, the criminal courts initiated trials of 474 defendants in cases related to the 1993 ethnic massacres that followed the killing of former president Ndadaye. Foreign lawyers provided under United Nations? auspices helped defend some of the accused.

The courts handed down approximately 150 sentences in these trials. There were 38 persons sentenced to death, 6 of whom were hanged on July 31; 59 others given prison sentences; and 24 acquitted. Many others remain in detention and have not faced trial (see Section 1.d.). The six executions were the first civilians executed since 1982.

There are no clearly identifiable political prisoners. However, charges brought against defendants in nonpolitical crimes are sometimes politically motivated.

At year's end, the Government continued its prosecution of approximately 20 defendants accused of participation in the 1993 coup and killing of former president Ndadaye, including several past and present members of the military forces. The prospect of any serious punishment of these senior defendants appeared remote.

f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The 1996 decree provides for the right to privacy, but according to reports, the authorities generally do not respect the law requiring search warrants. Security forces are assumed to monitor telephones regularly.

The armed forces reportedly destroyed the homes of persons forced into regroupment camps (see Section 2.d.).

g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian Law In Internal Conflicts

Continuing insecurity has limited international humanitarian relief operations in some areas.

Government forces forced Hutu peasants to leave their homes in Bubanza, Bujumbura Rural, Bururi, Karuzi, Kayanza, and Muramvya provinces and move into regroupment camps, according to international relief agency officials.

According to an international human rights organization, the army burned large numbers of civilian homes during military operations in Bubanza, Bujumbura rural, Bururi, Cibitoke, Gitega, Karuzi, Makamba, and Muramvya provinces. A local source near Isale Commune, Bujumbura Rooral province, reported that after an antitank mine detonated on July 13, the army retaliated by burning homes in a 5-square-kilometer region near the incident.

On March 25, according to an international relief organization, three cars detonated antitank mines in Bujumbura. Seven persons were killed; one person was reported missing. On April 6, according to an international relief organization, one additional antitank and three antipersonnel mines were detonated in Bujumbura, wounding three persons.

On April 14, according to an international human rights organization, Hutu rebels attacked Hutu refugees who had returned from Tanzania at a camp in Mutongo commune, Muyinga province, killing three persons and wounding four others. On April 30, according to a Western observer, Hutu rebels attacked a seminary in Bururi province, killing 43 persons and wounding 40 others.

On May 1, in Minago commune, Bururi province, according to a Western observer, two persons, including a Catholic nun, were killed when their vehicle detonated a land mine.

On May 19, according to an international observer, Hutu rebels launched three attacks which killed 66 recently returned Burundian Hutu refugees in Cibitoke province. On June 7, a Hutu rebel attack in Bubanza province resulted in the death of one civilian, according to a Western observer.

According to various sources, on June 30, in the Kiriri neighborhood of Bujumbura, an antitank mine exploded under the car of Burundi's National Assembly Speaker. The speaker's wife and chauffeur were wounded, and a soldier riding in the car was killed. The speaker was not in the car at the time. On July 13, an antitank mine detonated near Isale Commune, Bujumbura Rural province, wounding three persons, according to a local newspaper.

Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

There are no restrictions imposed on the press by the decree of September 13, 1996; however, the regime owns the only newspaper and the two major radio stations.

The Government-owned Le Renouveau, which is published 3 times per week, is the only newspaper that appears regularly. Other newspapers, including at least one opposition newspaper, appear irregularly. Newspaper readership remains limited. Political tracts and news sheets continue to circulate. These represent a variety of political viewpoints, sometimes of an extremist nature.

There were reports of a number of instances in which security forces harassed foreign journalists.

Most citizens rely on the two government-owned radio stations for information. One station broadcasts in Kirundi Language, the other in French and Swahili, with limited programming in English. There is one independent radio station, Radio Umwizero, financed by the European Union, which broadcasts in French and Kirundi. Citizens also receive the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Voice of America, and other international broadcasts. The clandestine radio station that had supported the political opposition during 1996 was not operating at year?s end.

No laws or regulations limit academic freedom. Although no persons were persecuted for what they published or said, the University of Burundi remains primarily a monoethnic Tutsi institution. Tutsi students discouraged Hutus from returning to attend the university.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Government restricts freedom of assembly. The September 1996 decree prohibits political demonstrations. The regime had banned political parties immediately following the July 1996 coup. However, the Government has arrested leaders and members of the FRODEBU, Parena, and Uprona political parties (see Section 1.d.), thereby limiting freedom of association.

The September 1996 decree permits political parties to operate. They were active in the interior during the year.

c. Freedom of Religion

The law provides for freedom of religion, and the Government respects this right. There is no state religion, and the Government made no attempt to restrict freedom of worship by adherents of any religion. However, authorities arrested four clerics on charges of aiding Hutu rebels. According to international observers, two Catholic priests, the head of the Baptist Church and the Quaker director of a hospital, all Hutus, were arrested and charged with aiding Hutu rebels. One of the Catholic priests was tried and sentenced to 2 years in prison; the other has been held without charge since August 1. The Baptist cleric and the Quaker hospital director were released. The Government has little ability to protect politically targeted members of the clergy.

d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The law provides for these rights; however, the Government has in some instances restricted citizens' foreign travel for political reasons. The Government says that the restrictions are for legal, not political, reasons. For example, the Government refused to permit the departure of National Assembly speaker Leonce Ngendakumana from the country. Ngendakumana was summoned by the state prosecutor for questioning on six occasions since October 10, 1996. He has not been formally charged, but the Government has prevented him from leaving the country because, the Government has said, he is under investigation.

In June former president Ntibantunganya left the protection of a foreign diplomat's residence where he had sought refuge following the July 1996 coup. He was since permitted to travel freely in the country.

The border with the Democratic Republic of Congo has been officially reopened. Despite the economic embargo, citizens continue to be able to travel in and out of the country.

In 1996, in Karuzi province, the Government initiated a policy of forcible resettlement of rural populations into regroupment camps, ostensibly to better protect them. At its peak, this policy resulted in the regroupment of nearly 300,000 people into 40 to 45 regroupment camps.

In September there were a total of 230,000 people in regroupment camps, according to an international relief organization. The camps were in Bujumbura Rural, Bururi, Karuzi, Kayanza and Muramvya provinces. International observers believe that some of the 46,000 people in camps for internally displaced people in Cibitoke province may also be regrouped people. The vast majority of persons in regroupment camps are Hutu, although some are Tutsi.

The Government has announced its intention to permit regrouped persons in Karuzi, Kayanza, and Muramvya provinces to depart. Beginning in June, in Kayanza province, the Government allowed 35,000 regrouped persons to return to their homes, according to an international relief agency. On September 9, deteriorating security conditions caused the Government to halt temporarily the departure of regrouped people in Kayanza province.

According to a number of sources, the army often destroyed the houses of regrouped persons. It reportedly razed hundreds of homes in this process. For those in the camps, some farming is possible, although only with permission of the military authorities. Serious health, water, and malnutrition problems exist in many camps. Those who are found in the hills without a camp pass are considered to be rebels and often are shot by government soldiers, according to a number of sources.

Hutu rebels reportedly shoot Hutus who remain outside the camps. The rebels believe that these Hutus inform the military forces about the rebellion.

Travel is possible in many parts of the country. However, armed rebel activity, particularly in parts of Bubanza, Bururi, Cibitoke, and Makamba provinces, makes travel in some areas perilous. In a number of regions, the population is segregated into Tutsi areas and Hutu areas.

A large proportion of the populations of the provinces of Cibitoke, Bubanza, Bujumbura Rural, and Karuzi are estimated to be internally displaced persons. Humanitarian agency officials believe that up to 600,000 citizens may be internally displaced. The high level of insecurity in affected areas continues to make accurate assessment of the number of internally displaced persons difficult, or to provide adequate humanitarian assistance for them.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 78,000 refugees were repatriated from Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo during the year. In addition, according to the UNHCR, at year's end about 247,000 Burundian refugees, most of them Hutu, remain in Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of these persons fled as early as 1972, and many fled following the assassination of former president Ndadaye in 1993. Some fled the country during the year, but the UNHCR is unable to estimate their number.

The Government has approved first asylum in recent years.

According to the UNHCR, there are approximately 20,000 citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Burundi, many of whom claim asylum. About 1,000 new Congolese sought asylum during 1997.

The Rwandan refugee community is divided into two groups: Those who fled the 1994 ethnic massacres in Rwanda and were officially registered as refugees by the UNHCR; and those who came in earlier waves of refugees, some as early as 1959. The pre-1994 refugees, numbering about 200,000, are not officially registered with the UNHCR and have largely been integrated into Burundian society.

The UNHCR helped repatriate 800 officially registered Rwandan refugees in 1997. Other Rwandan refugees not registered with the UNHCR also repatriated on their own. Virtually no Rwandan refugees registered with the UNHCR remain in the country.

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government

Citizens do not have the right to change their government. The September 1996 decree makes no provision regarding elections. The 1992 Constitution and 1994 Convention of Government were both suspended by the Buyoya military regime, which assumed power on July 25, 1996, in a bloodless coup. On that date, the regime dissolved the National Assembly and banned political parties. On September 13, 1996, Major Buyoya announced the restoration of the National Assembly and political parties with certain restrictions.

In practice, the National Assembly cannot function normally until it determines under what authority it can act. Many members are unwilling to operate under the authority of Buyoya's decree.

The 81-seat National Assembly operates under significant restraints. It lacks operating funds, salaries for staff, office supplies, and fuel for official vehicles. The last elections to fill the Assembly were held in June 1993. Not all of those elected are still living, and many have left the country. Under the 1992 Constitution, deposed president Ntibantunganya was to have remained in office until 1998, when legislative elections had been scheduled.

The September 1996 decree stipulates that the National Assembly consist of Parliamentarians elected in 1993 who sat in the previous National Assembly. Under the decree, the President may appoint additional parliamentarians, but he has not yet chosen to exercise this power. While the National Assembly has nominal budgetary oversight, the September 1996 decree allows the Council of Ministers to enact a budget if the National Assembly fails to do so. The decree also gives the President the authority to declare a state of emergency by decree and without reference to the National Assembly.

There are no legal restrictions on the participation of women or indigenous people in elections or politics. In practice, however, both women and the ethnic Twa (Pygmies) are underrepresented in government and in politics. Women currently hold 2 of 27 cabinet seats and were elected to 9 of 81 seats in the National Assembly. However, one of the nine was killed in Cibitoke province in 1995. Although Twa constitute about 1 percent of the population, there are no Twa in either the Cabinet or the National Assembly (see also Section 5).

Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights

Local human rights groups received varying degrees of cooperation from government ministries and local authorities. The local human rights group Iteka continued to operate and publish a newsletter on the human rights situation.

Human Rights Watch/Africa visited during the year. The United Nations Center for Human Rights has an office in the country. The work of human rights organizations was hampered, however, by insecurity in the countryside and by the Government's inability, and in some cases unwillingness, to protect human rights workers.

Citing security concerns, local military authorities refused access to some areas of the interior to journalists, human rights workers, and international relief officials. Militant extremists, both Hutu and Tutsi, threatened the lives of people investigating human rights violations.

On May 27, the Government submitted a request to the U.N. Security Council that an international tribunal be established to try those implicated in the events of 1993. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan declined to recommend the establishment of such a tribunal in the form proposed and under the prevailing circumstances.

Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability, Language, or Social Status

The September 1996 decree explicitly provides equal status and protection for all citizens, without distinction based on sex, origin, ethnicity, religion, or opinion. However, the Government failed to enforce effectively all the decree's provisions. Hutus continue to perceive, correctly, that there is discrimination against them by the Tutsi-dominated Government.

Women

Violence against women occurred, but there was no documentation of its extent. Wives have the right to bring physical abuses charges against their husbands; in practice, they rarely do so. Police normally do not intervene in domestic disputes, and the media do not report incidents of violence against women, including rape. There were no known court cases dealing with the abuse of women.

Women face both legal and societal discrimination. There continue to be explicitly discriminatory inheritance laws and discriminatory credit practices. Although by law women must receive the same pay as men for the same work, women are far less likely to hold mid-level or high-level positions. In rural areas, women traditionally perform hard farm work and have less opportunity for education than men.

Children

The law provides for children?s health and welfare but the Government cannot adequately address the needs of the large population of orphans resulting from the violence since 1993. Many of the victims of massacres were children. The Government provides elementary education at nominal cost through grade 6; about 60 percent of school-age children are enrolled. It also provides subsidized health care for all family members.

People With Disabilities

The Government has not enacted legislation or otherwise mandated access to buildings or government services for people with disabilities. The rudimentary economy effectively excludes the physically disabled from many types of employment.

Indigenous People

The Twa (Pygmy) minority remains marginalized economically, socially, and politically. Most Twa continued to live in isolation, uneducated, and without access to government services, including health care. The Twa remain essentially outside of the political process.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The principal national problem continued to be ethnic conflict between the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis. The Tutsis have historically held power and still control the military force and dominate educated society. The 1996 coup deposed president Ntibantunganya, a Hutu, and replaced him with Major Buyoya, a Tutsi.

Ethnic discrimination against Hutus, who constitute 85 percent of the population, affects every facet of society, including the Government, the military forces, and the judiciary. Fourteen Hutus serve as Cabinet ministers in the Government, but real power rests with Buyoya and the Tutsi-dominated army. The Government continued its program of Hutu military recruitment.

Section 6 Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

The Labor Code nominally protects the rights of workers to form unions, although the army, gendarmerie, and expatriates working in the public sector are prohibited from union participation. Most union workers are urban civil servants.

According to the Confederation of Free Unions of Burundi (CSB), the country's first national umbrella trade union, 60 percent of the 75,000 formal private sector employees are unionized. All employees in the public sector except those involved in activities related to public security are unionized.

Since gaining its independence from the Government in 1992, the CSB has been financially dependent on a system of checkoffs, as are local unions. In 1995, a rival umbrella trade union, the Confederation of Burundi Unions (Cosebu), was founded. Both Cosebu and the CSB represented labor in collective bargaining negotiations in cooperation with individual labor unions during the year.

Unions are Tutsi-dominated, reflecting the fact that it is mainly Tutsis who are employed in the formal sector of the economy. The unions have also been strong supporters of the Government.

The Labor Code permits the formation of additional unions or confederations outside the CSB. When settling disputes in which more than one labor union is represented, the law stipulates that the Minister of Labor will chose the union representing the greatest number of workers to participate in the negotiations.

The Labor Code provides workers with a restricted right to strike. The restrictions on the right to strike and to lock out include: All other peaceful means of resolution must be exhausted prior to the strike action; negotiations must continue during the action, mediated by a mutually agreed upon party or by the Government; and 6 days' notice must be given. The law prohibits retribution against workers participating in a legal strike, and this provision is upheld in practice.

Unions are able to affiliate with international organizations.

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The Labor Code recognizes the right to collective bargaining, formerly acknowledged only by ordinance. Since most workers are civil servants, government entities are involved in almost every phase of labor negotiations.

Public sector wages are set in fixed scales in individual contracts and are note affected by collective bargaining. In the private sector, wage scales also exist, but individual contract negotiation is possible.

The Labor Code gives the Labor Court jurisdiction over all labor dispute cases, including those involving public employees. Negotiations are conducted largely under the supervision of the tripartite National Labor Council, the Government's highest consultative authority on labor issues. The Council represents government, labor, and management and is presided over and regulated by the Minister of Labor.

The Labor Code prohibits employers from firing or otherwise discriminating against a worker because of union affiliation or activity. This right is upheld in practice.

There are no export processing zones.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits the performance of forced or compulsory labor by adults and children, and it is not known to occur.

d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment

The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children, and the Government enforces this prohibition effectively (see Section 6.c.). The Labor Code states that children under the age of 16 cannot be employed by "an enterprise" even as apprentices, although it also states that they may undertake occasional work that does not damage their health or interfere with their schooling. In practice, in rural areas children under age 16 do heavy manual labor such as transporting bricks in daytime during the school year.

Children are legally prohibited from working at night, although many do so in the informal sector. Children are obliged by custom and economic necessity to help support their families by participating in activities related to subsistence agriculture, in family-based enterprises, and in the informal sector.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

The formal minimum wage for unskilled workers is $0.40 (145 francs) per day in the cities of Bujumbura and Gitega, and $0.35 (120 francs) in the rest of the country, with a graduated scale for greater skill levels. This amount does not allow a worker and family to maintain a decent standard of living, and most families rely on second incomes and subsistence agriculture to supplement their earnings. A survey of day-labor wage rates in nine provinces by an international organization revealed that actual wages ranged upward from $.30 per day.

Unionized employees, particularly in urban areas, generally earn significantly more than the minimum wage. Public sector wages are set by agreement between the Government and either the CSB or Cosebu.

The Labor Code stipulates an 8-hour workday and 40-hour workweek, except in cases where workers are involved in activities related to national security. Supplements must be paid for overtime. The Labor Code establishes health and safety standards requiring an employer to provide a safe workplace and assigns enforcement responsibility to the Minister of Labor. However, the Ministry does not enforce the code effectively. Health and safety articles in the Labor Code do not directly address workers' rights to remove themselves from a dangerous work situation.