GENEVA (16 October 2023) - The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi, Fortuné Gaetan Zongo, will conduct an official visit to Canada from 16 to 20 October 2023. “I am deeply concerned by the socio-political context, the shrinking of civic space and the absence of a reliable reconciliation process in Burundi,” Zongo said. Since his appointment, the Special Rapporteur has requested the Government of Burundi to be given access to visit the country. Due to lack of response, the Special Rapporteur has decided to collect first-hand information from the Burundian diaspora and other stakeholders based in Canada. Zongo will present his annual report on the situation of human rights in Burundi to the UN General Assembly on 25 October 2023. ENDS Mr Fortuné Gaétan Zongo (Burkina Faso) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burundi. The UN Human Rights Council appointed him to this mandate on 1 April 2022 at the end of its 49th session. He will present his report to the fifty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council and to the United Nations General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session. Special rapporteurs, independent experts and working groups are part of the so-called Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. The Special Procedures are the largest group of independent experts in the UN human rights system. It is the general name for the Council"s independent investigative and monitoring mechanisms that deal either with specific country situations or thematic issues in all regions of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity. For more information and media enquiries, please contact Sylvaine Nadine Mballa Wilson (sylvaine.mballa@un.org). For media enquiries about other UN independent experts, please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org). Follow news about the UN Independent Human Rights Experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts Concerned about the world we live in? Then STAND UP for someone"s rights today. #Standup4humanrights and visit the web page at http://www.standup4humanrights.org