State Department urges Burundian government to respect human rights
A State Department spokesperson on Thursday urged Burundian leaders to respect human rights. “We call on all of Burundi’s leaders to respect the inherent dignity and universal rights, including equal access to justice, of every member of Burundian society,” the spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement.
Burundian President Évariste Ndayishimiye on Dec. 30 said gay people should be publicly stoned. He also said any Burundian who lives outside the country and openly identifies as LGBTQ should not return.
Activists and French MP Marie Lebec are among those who sharply criticized Ndayishimiye’s comments. The statement the State Department spokesperson sent to the Blade does not specifically reference LGBTQ people. (President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a memo that committed the U.S.
to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad as part of his administration’s overall foreign policy. The White House subsequently appointed Jessica Stern as the special U.S.
