Ready to Talk About the Past: A Survey of Knowledge and Attitudes toward Transitional Justice in Burundi

This 35-page report presents the findings from a survey on public knowledge and perceptions of transitional justice in Burundi. The survey was carried out in Burundi in October 2008 by the Research and Learning Group of the BBC World Service Trust and Search for Common Ground. The survey (of 1,648 Burundian adults across 10 of Burundi's 17 provinces) aimed to explore a number of issues around transitional justice, as well as to explore patterns of media consumption and key information sources for what is happening in Burundi. This survey is part of the Communicating Justice project, which aims to raise levels of public awareness and debate around transitional justice issues in 5 post-conflict African countries - in part by training groups of journalists. It is being implemented by the BBC World Service Trust in association with the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), with funding provided by the European Union, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Humanity United.

The report offers context to indicate the motivation for the Communicating Justice project. Namely, after decades of ethnic conflict and civil war, dealing with the past is a complex issue in Burundi. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) first envisaged by peace accords in 2000 has still not been created. 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. In such contexts, there is a need for other mechanisms to temporarily replace or to work alongside national courts in dealing with the past and helping the country move forward. Such mechanisms can include internationally backed special courts, truth commissions, reparations, programmes for victims, and institutional reforms (e.g. reform of the judiciary, army, and police).

This survey was conducted as the Burundian government and the United Nations (UN) 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 organised by a committee of government, UN, and civil society representatives, and will also gather views from the public.

While the full report engages in a nuanced and detailed analysis of the survey results on a wide range of topics related to transitional justice and the media, the survey's key findings are as follows:

Support for a TRC and Prosecutions:

• More than two-thirds of respondents (68%) have heard about plans for a TRC, and 81% of those aware said they thought a TRC would be mostly or entirely a good thing for Burundi.
• Burundians are willing to speak out about the conflict. Eight out of 10 respondents said they would be willing to make a statement to a TRC, and 7 out of 10 would be willing to testify at a public hearing. Those unwilling to speak out were afraid of reprisals from the person they testified against.
• 68% of all respondents said that those who had committed crimes during Burundi's conflict should be brought to court and tried. Of these respondents, 96% said that the crimes tried by the courts should include grave violations of human rights such as genocide, murder, and rape.
  

Only 44% of those questioned had heard about the upcoming national consultations on possible transitional justice mechanisms for Burundi. This suggests that both the local media and the authorities need to do more to explain the process and ensure public buy-in.

Less than one-quarter (24%) of respondents said they completely trusted the national judiciary to deliver justice while more than one-quarter (28%) said they distrusted it completely. Respondents were similarly divided on the independence of the courts. Approximately two-fifths (39%) of respondents thought that the national courts were independent from the government to a degree, while more than two-fifths (42%) of respondents felt that that the courts were not independent to a degree. Nearly one-fifth (16%) of all respondents said they did not know how independent the courts were.

Burundians are confident in the justice delivered by the traditional elders known as the Bashingantahe and think it should play a part in the transitional justice process. Although only 39% of respondents said they had taken a case to the 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 it should.

More than three-quarters (77%) of all respondents said they had confidence in the national army, and 59% said they had confidence in the police. In both cases, levels of confidence tended to drop as respondents' level of education increased. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of all respondents reported that they had been displaced from their homes, and a quarter (25%) said they were involved in a conflict regarding property. Only one-fifth (21%) of respondents said they thought Burundi was at peace, but nearly three-quarters (74%) thought that it could be at peace in the future.

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," according to former 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."