UN Human Rights Committee to review Burundi's rights record

By United Nations - Office of the UN High Commissione

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 1, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Burundi's human rights record will be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Committee for the second time on Wednesday 8 October and Thursday 9 October in meetings in Geneva that will be webcast live.

As a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Burundi is required to undergo regular review by the Committee of 18 international independent experts on how it is implementing the ICCPR.

Burundi, which is one of the 168 states parties to the ICCPR, has submitted a report on implementation of its human rights obligations to the Committee and a number of non-governmental organisations have also sent reports for the Committee's consideration. The Committee will engage in a dialogue with the delegation from Burundi on questions relating to the promotion and protection of human rights in the country.

Time and date: 15:00-18:00 on 8 October; 10:00-13:00 on 9 October.

Venue: Palais Wilson, Geneva. Live webcasts of the public sessions can be viewed at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

A news conference is scheduled for Thursday 30 October at 13.30 at Palais des Nations in Geneva to discuss the Committee's concluding observations on Burundi and the other countries being reviewed – Sri Lanka, Haiti, Malta, Montenegro, and Israel.

The country reports and full list of issues can be found here:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=811&Lang=en

The concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee will be made available on Thursday 30 October at:

http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=811&Lang=en