The Burundi government’s critics are increasingly facing torture even as security forces are reported to get engaged in sexual violence against women during protests and searches, the United Nations human rights experts said on Friday.
The UN Committee against Torture raised their concerns over the use of “genocidal rhetoric” by senior officials and the ethnic nature of the year-long conflict that has rocked the East African nation.
“We have reports and information that indicates that the violence, the torture, is politically-motivated. And whether it also has an ethnic component, there are also indications for that,” Jens Modvic, panel chairman, told a news briefing.
Burundi descended into violence in April 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza declared his bid for a controversial third term in office, one that he went on to win in the July poll.
More than 450 people have been killed since then, with hundreds of thousands fleeing to neighbouring countries.
The panel, composed of 10 independent experts, called on Burundi to exert rigorous control of its police and security forces and to halt crimes including extrajudicial executions, torture and disappearances.
