In the UK, you can write to your Member of Parliament via the website www.writetothem.com to ask them to press the UK government to help secure justice in Burundi.

In June 2005, the United Nations Security Council, backed by the UK government, unanimously passed Security Council resolution 1606, mandating negotiations towards establishing a truth commission and special chamber to “prosecute those bearing the greatest responsibility for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burundi”.

Yet progress on this promise has been painfully slow, amid growing concern that Burundi’s pervasive culture of impunity will once again stifle efforts to deliver justice. As one of the largest aid donors to the region, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the UK has a vital role to play in ensuring that justice in Burundi is at last achieved.

We are asking MPs to write to the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Grant Shapps, reminding them of the commitments made in UN Security Council resolution 1606 and urging them to:

*Press the Burundian government to refer the genocidal August 2004 Gatumba massacre to the International Criminal Court as an immediate first step towards ending impunity.

*Press the Burundian government directly to deliver on its promise to establish a truth commission and “special chamber” to investigate and prosecute acts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burundi.

*Press the UN and other international donors to present a united front on the issue of justice in Burundi, and re-invigorate international efforts to finalise the establishment of the truth commission and “special chamber” that was promised in 2005.