<<previous | index | next>>
- Ensure a prompt and thorough investigation of the Gatumba
massacre and of the failure of Burundian military forces to come to the
assistance of the refugees. Make public the results of the inquiry.
- Assist investigators designated by the United Nations
Security Council to investigate this case.
- Complete procedures for joining the International Criminal
Court (ICC) without requesting the seven-year exemption for war crimes
possible under article 124 of the statute of the court.
- Request the ICC prosecutor to investigate the Gatumba
massacre in accord with article 12(3) of the ICC statute. Should the ICC
not proceed with prosecutions related to the case, ensure that any persons
accused of this crime be brought to trial in Burundian courts according to
international standards of due process.
- Ensure that all refugee camps are located sufficiently
distant from the borders of the refugees’ country of origin to ensure
their security from cross-border attacks.
- Ensure that refugees are effectively protected twenty-four
hours a day.
To the
government of the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Ensure prompt completion of a thorough investigation of
any participation by Congolese citizens and particularly by any members of
the Congolese armed forces in the Gatumba massacre. Ensure that any
persons accused of this crime be brought to trial according to
international standards of due process.
- Take all necessary steps to ensure combatants under your control
comply with international humanitarian law and hold accountable those who
fail to do so.
- Carry out further investigations of the Gatumba massacre
to supplement the preliminary inquiry done at your request, either by
establishing an international panel of inquiry or by referring the case to
another appropriate international mechanism.
- Encourage troop-contributing nations to speed provision of
fully staffed and equipped forces to the United Nations Operations in
Burundi (ONUB).
- Support fully an effective human rights unit within ONUB
and direct this unit to publish prompt and complete reports of its
investigations.
- Follow strictly the UNHCR policy of placing refugee camps
distant from borders of the country from which refugees have come and use
public and diplomatic pressure to move resistant governments towards
compliance with this policy.
- Insist that governments fulfill their responsibilities to
assure the security of refugees, using any needed public and diplomatic
pressure to achieve that end. Insist that governments establish a reliable
system of immediately alerting UNHCR personnel of any threat to refugee
camps.
- Insist that states prosecute those responsible for the
Gatumba massacre and other grave violations of international human rights
and humanitarian law in Burundi, or assist the International Criminal
Court or the Burundian government in its prosecutions.
|
