On 14 March 2016, the Council of the European Union published its decision to cease consultations with the Republic of Burundi under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreements. In light of the fact that the Government of Burundi has not followed through on its proposed commitments to end its human rights violations satisfactorily, the European Union decided to adopt “appropriate measures” to ensure the implementation of these commitments.
For this purpose, the EU will direct all its aid straight to the Burundi population and civil society, giving priority to humanitarian aid, healthcare and the fight against poverty. Funds previously channelled through the Burundi institutions are suspended and will only be reinstated gradually as concrete measures are taken to implement: a political agreement on a plan to end the crisis, measures to provide an arena for peaceful political dialogue and measures related to the processing of court cases.
FIDH and its Burundi member organisation, Iteka, brought out these priorities in many exchanges with the European institutions and the member states during the last few months while it continued to urge the international community to take urgent steps to put an end to the violence and to get Burundi out of this state of crisis.