A/HRC/33/37 Nations peacekeeping operation in the Central African Republic at the end of their tour of duty. Some Burundian African Union or United Nations peacekeepers have reportedly refused to return to Burundi for fear of retaliation against soldiers considered close to the opposition. 33. There are persistent allegations by the Government of Burundi that neighbouring Rwanda is involved in supporting anti-Government groups in Burundi. Critics of the Government allege that members of the Interahamwe are used by the Burundian authorities to supplement its own security structures. V. Principal findings 34. No one can quantify exactly all the violations that have taken place during the reporting period and that continue to take place in a situation as closed and repressive as Burundi. 35. According to some estimates, more than 1,000 people have been killed during the crisis.9 Thousands more have reportedly been tortured, unknown numbers of women have been subjected to various forms of sexual crime, hundreds of people have disappeared and thousands have been illegally detained.10 36. A particularly telling figure, and one that can be more easily verified, is the number of people who have fled the country since the crisis began. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees puts the number of people who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries since April 2015 at 286,036 (as at 25 August 2016). 11 The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that 109,459 people have been displaced (as at 31 August 2016).12 Clearly, many people on the ground believe they see signs of the horrors of the past repeating themselves and flee. 37. The independent experts provide below an overview of some of the violations that have been investigated. A. Arbitrary deprivations of life 38. No official figures of the number of people killed during the crisis are available and the system of accountability is virtually non-existent. OHCHR has informed the independent experts that it verified 564 executions between 26 April 2015 and 30 August 2016. Given the constraints under which OHCHR operates, this is clearly a conservative estimate. 39. The independent experts found that the large majority of victims were people who were opposed or were perceived to be opposed to a third mandate for President Nkurunziza or who were members of opposition parties. 9 10 11 12 See https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/burundi/burundi-a-bloody-first-year-of-challengedpresidency-for-pierre. See, e.g., the compilation of reports by Human Rights Watch on Burundi available from https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_resources/burundi_compendium_2016_web_versi on_4.pdf. See http://data.unhcr.org/burundi/regional.php. This may however also include those displaced by natural disasters. See https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/fr/system/files/documents/files/note_dinformation_humanitai re_31_aout_2016.pdf. 7