President of the ITEKA League, Jean-Marie Vianney Kavumbagu hold a press conference on Wednesday May 10, 2006 in the morning while presenting the annual report of the year 2005 on the situation of human rights in Burundi.

Year 2005 was characterised by the coming on the power of democratically elected leaders and it was expected that the situation of human rights was going to improve in spite of the ever lasting insecurity observed in Bujumbura rural province and its surroundings where the armed rebel movement, Palipehutu-Fnl is still fighting.

But it has been noticed that the violation of right to life remained tremendous in 2005: 898 cases have been reported by the observers of ITEKA League, a number which is higher than that of 2004 which was 667.

The phenomenon of rape also remains in a constant rise: 1791 cases reported in 2005 against 1675 in 2004. The reported cases of torture amount to 252 against 348 in 2004.

On the social and economic field, the situation is worse, for the major part of population(60%) continued to live under poverty line.

D/JPK