A/HRC/33/37 Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1993) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1989). It is also a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2004). The Constitution of Burundi recognizes the right to life (art. 24) and the right to be free from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (art. 25), and guarantees the independence of the courts (art. 209). 15. Burundi is a member of the Human Rights Council and was a member of the Council when resolution S-24/1 was adopted by consensus. 16. States carry the primary responsibility for respecting, protecting and ensuring the human rights of all within their jurisdiction. While the sovereignty of States is an important and respected pillar of the current global order, sovereignty provides neither a justification for violations of human rights nor an excuse for impunity. 17. The independent experts established their findings on a “reasonable grounds to believe” standard of proof, in other words on a reliable body of information that was consistent with other material and on the basis of which a reasonable and ordinarily prudent person would have reason to believe that an incident or pattern of conduct had occurred. IV. Background to the current crisis 18. The history of Burundi, before and after independence (1962), has been marked by repeated cycles of intense violence, including between ethnic communities. 19. The situation in Burundi also has to be understood within the broader regional context, as violence in one country almost inevitably has spillover effects involving its neighbours and affects regional security. 20. A decade-long civil war ended with the signature, in 2000, of the Arusha Agreement, which provided for power-sharing arrangements between the various sociopolitical and ethnic groups. The Arusha Agreement heralded the longest period of relative peace since independence. 21. In 2014, a dispute emerged over the question of whether the President, Pierre Nkurunziza, was entitled by the terms of the Arusha Agreement and the Constitution to run for a third term of office. A draft law aimed at amending the Constitution in order to make a third term possible was defeated in the National Assembly on 22 March 2014. Despite widespread local resistance and appeals by the international community (including by the African Union, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and the East African Community), the ruling party — the Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie (CNDD-FDD) — designated President Nkurunziza as its candidate on 25 April 2015. 22. On 5 May 2015, the Constitutional Court of Burundi validated the constitutionality of President Nkurunziza’s candidacy for an additional term. Some of the controversies around that decision are mentioned below. 23. A wave of protests accompanied the announced candidacy. Initially, the protests consisted largely of non-violent street demonstrations, but the authorities soon turned to the use of force to disperse the protesters and, more generally, to smother political dissent. 24. Following an attempted coup on 13 May 2015, the Government, both in its rhetoric and in its practice, associated demonstrators, mostly civilians, with the military coup leaders and expanded the scope of reprisals to include anyone opposed to the President or the ruling party or anyone suspected of having participated in demonstrations. The Government used the security apparatus ��� the National Police, the National Intelligence Service and the National Defence Force — and the youth wing of the ruling party, the 5