A/HRC/33/37 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 25 October 2016 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-third session Agenda items 2 and 10 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Technical assistance and capacity-building Report on the independent investigation on Burundi carried out pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-24/1* Summary The present report, which was prepared pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-24/1, covers violations and abuses of human rights committed in Burundi from 15 April 2015 to 30 June 2016. The independent experts who carried out the investigation have found that gross human rights violations have been committed, primarily by State agents and those linked to them. They have also found that these gross violations are systematic and patterned and that impunity is pervasive. While the crisis continues and even though the level of overt violence has declined, the overall level of oppression and control over society has increased, as manifested by arbitrary deprivations of life, enforced disappearances coupled with credible allegations of individuals being held in unacknowledged places of detention, cases of torture and other forms of ill-treatment and arbitrary detention on a massive scale. Burundians are almost completely unable to enjoy their freedoms of expression, association and assembly. Victims and witnesses are the targets of reprisals. Without a determined intervention by the Government of Burundi and a renewed robust engagement by the international community, including the United Nations and the African Union, the country’s downward spiral is unlikely to be reversed, endangering not only the rights of individuals but also the overall security of the region. The independent experts cannot exclude that some instances of gross human rights violations may amount to crimes against humanity and call for the establishment of independent international judicial processes to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice. * The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect recent developments. GE.16-18543(E) 