A/HRC/45/32 Returnees have sometimes been victims of serious violations that have forced them to go back into exile. 4. Rights of the child 61. Since the beginning of the crisis in 2015, children have regularly been victims of violations of their human rights, including their rights to liberty, security and physical integrity; they have, in particular, been victims of sexual violence, as well as violations of their freedom of opinion and association through forced recruitment into the Imbonerakure or, in the case of younger children, into the CNDD-FDD “Little Eagles”. 62. Burundian children, especially girls, have suffered from the effects of the political crisis, as they have been severely affected by violations of the rights of their parents and other members of their families. Some parents have lost the means to support their families as they have had to flee the country. The disappearance or murder of a family member, especially a father, has also left families unable to provide for children’s basic needs. 63. Families have been separated as a result of these violations, including when they have fled the country, and many children have been left orphaned. More than half of Burundian refugees are thus children, and a large number are unaccompanied.18 Many boys and girls have been traumatized by serious violations of the rights of family members, which they have often seen first-hand. Many need psychosocial and even medical care. D. Economic underpinnings of the State 64. Corruption, misappropriation of public funds, including funds from international development assistance, conflicts of interest and the illegal protection of interests underpin the functioning of the Burundian economy, especially in the most lucrative sectors such as mining or government contracts, even though most of this behaviour is criminalized under Burundian law. 65. In Burundi, a patrimonial concept of power dates back many years. It is the result of a structural problem of sharing of resources, linked to the weakness of the economy, and of the means of industrial production in particular, as well as the scarcity of land. The only way to gain access to resources is by taking power or being close to it, including through illicit economic and financial means.19 This is one of the root causes of human rights violations in Burundi, as the perpetrators of such violations seek to eliminate all political opposition in order to ensure that a minority remains in power and has access to wealth. As long as such practices persist, there will be no incentive to carry out an in-depth reform of the system so as to respect and protect human rights and combat corruption; quite the contrary. 66. The effects of such economic malfeasance are worrying in view of the extreme poverty in which more than 70 per cent of Burundians live. The State has been deprived of crucial resources to finance the realization of human rights, both for economic, social and cultural rights such as access to health, education, food and water, and for civil and political rights. For example, less than 5 per cent of the Burundian population has access to electricity, and access to water and sanitation remains very low.20 The average length of schooling is 3.1 years instead of the planned 11.3 years,21 and 1.7 million Burundians are food-insecure. The judicial system is sorely lacking in resources, which contributes to widespread corruption 18 19 20 21 12 See Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan: January 2019–December 2020. See also A/HRC/39/CRP.1, paras. 120 and 142–149 (document available on the Commission’s website). World Bank, The World Bank in Burundi, “Burundi – Overview”. Available at https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/burundi. United Nations Development Programme, Country information note on the Human Development Report 2019: Burundi. Available at http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/countrynotes/BDI.pdf. GE.20-10689