ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates the management of pre-trial detention in Burundi, with a primary focus on safeguarding the fundamental human rights of both suspects and defendants. Notwithstanding Burundi having a robust and comprehensive legal framework designed to protect these rights, its effective enforcement is significantly hindered by several systemic challenges. These include severe overcrowding in detention facilities, inadequate infrastructure, pervasive logistical hurdles, and a limited adoption of digitalisation within the judicial system. The findings of this chapter emphasise an urgent need for multifaceted reforms. Key areas for improvement highlighted in the chapter include expanding and modernising detention facilities, enhancing logistical support for the justice system, and providing comprehensive, specialised training for law enforcement personnel. In light of these issues, this chapter recommends a few crucial interventions such as digitising judicial processes to improve efficiency, increasing prison capacity to alleviate overcrowding, and ensuring a more equitable gender balance among law enforcement personnel to better uphold and protect human rights standards.
