Burundi: Human Rights Council adopts Universal Periodic Review outcome on Burundi: Amnesty International outlines key human rights concerns in Burundi

Amnesty International outlines key human rights concerns in Burundi At the 10th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland held on 18 March Amnesty International urged the Government of Burundi not to pass a law criminalizing same- sex relations and to release all prisoners of conscience. [...] In its presentation to the Human Rights Council, Amnesty International asked the Burundian government to reconsider a provision of its draft penal code which makes it a criminal offence to engage in same-sex sexual relations. [...] The organisation also informed the Council that prisoners of conscience remain in prison in Burundi, including Juvénal Rududura. [...] However, the organization is concerned about the draft bill which will create the commission. [...] If passed into law in its current state, there is a risk that the commission will have severely limited powers of enquiry, restricted jurisdiction, and it will not be sufficiently independent from the authority of the government; all of which would seriously limit its effectiveness as a human rights watch dog.