Burundi

Burundians Support Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Survey Finds

Press release issued: 22nd December 2008
(click here for French version)

Release of Ready to Talk about the Past, a report on attitudes to transitional justice

After decades of ethnic conflict and civil war, dealing with the past is a thorny issue in Burundi. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) first envisaged by peace accords in 2000 has still not been created. However, most Burundians would support the creation of a TRC, according to a survey carried out by the BBC World Service Trust and Search for Common Ground. Eighty percent of the Burundians surveyed who were aware of proposals for a TRC also said they would be willing to make a statement to such a commission, and seven out of ten said they would testify at a public hearing. On the other hand, those who were not willing to speak out said they would be afraid of reprisals from the person they testified against.

These are among the findings in a new report, titled Ready to Talk about the Past. The report presents results from a survey of 1,648 Burundian adults conducted across 10 of Burundi’s 17 provinces in October 2008.  Survey questions explored knowledge and attitudes on transitional justice, as well as sources of information and public perceptions of the Burundian media. This survey is part of a project called Communicating Justice, which has also been training groups of journalists in five post-conflict African countries, including Burundi.

Broadly defined, transitional justice includes all the ways that societies can choose to deal with the legacy of mass human rights abuse. It is often evoked in a post-conflict situation where national institutions may be weak and resources lacking. As well as prosecutions in local courts, transitional justice mechanisms can include UN and UN-backed courts, truth commissions, reparations for victims and reforming the institutions of state.

This survey comes as the Burundian government and the United Nations are negotiating to set up a UN-backed TRC and Special Court, and with national consultations on such mechanisms due in early 2009. The consultations are being organized by a committee of government, UN and civil society representatives, and will also gather views from the public. However, the survey found that less than half of respondents (44%) were aware of the upcoming national consultations. This suggests that both the local media and the authorities need to do more to explain the process and ensure public buy-in. 

More than two-thirds of Burundians surveyed (68%) said they want individuals who committed human rights violations during the country’s conflict brought before a court and tried. They were, however, divided in their perceptions of the national judiciary. Less than one-quarter (24%) of respondents said that they completely trusted the national judiciary to deliver justice while more than one-quarter (28%) said they distrusted it completely.

Although only 39% of respondents said they had taken a case to the traditional elders, known as Bashingantahe, nearly two-thirds (65%) of all respondents said they were confident in the justice delivered by this institution. Asked whether the Bashingantahe should play a role in supporting a TRC or Special Court in Burundi, 75% of all respondents said that they should.

Nearly half (44%) of respondents said that they were not satisfied with the media’s reporting on transitional justice. When those who were not satisfied were asked why, the majority of respondents (61%) said that there was not enough information in the media on transitional justice issues. Nearly a quarter of unsatisfied respondents also said that they didn’t understand the subject matter of transitional justice reports.

“As the country prepares for national consultations on a possible Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Special Court, journalists will need to step up both the quality and quantity of coverage,” says Communicating Justice project director Julia Crawford at the BBC World Service Trust. “They will need to break down the complex issues so that ordinary people can understand them. Clarity and simplicity have been the central themes of the training and mentoring delivered in Burundi by the Communicating Justice project.”

For further information please contact Julia Crawford