Focusing on the case of Burundi, this article analyses the effectiveness of the
international prohibition of amnesty for serious human rights crimes at the national
level, in the context of complex war-to-peace transitions based on power-sharing deals
between former opponents. On the one hand, the amnesty prohibition has clearly
affected Burundi’s peace process and its proposed transitional justice process. The
prohibition found its way into national legislation and no amnesty was granted for
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Throughout its involvement with
the Burundian peace process, the United Nations has systematically opposed the use
of amnesty legislation that does not respect the constraints imposed by international
law. On the other hand, imperatives of political expediency and the desire to safeguard
short term political stability have given rise to the establishment and creative use of a
sophisticated bypassing mechanism. Through the combination of limitations imposed on
the jurisdiction of the national criminal justice system, the use of temporary immunities
and the delayed establishment of proposed transitional justice mechanisms, the amnesty
prohibition has – so far – been most effectively circumvented. The case of Burundi offers
interesting insights into the limits of the global ‘ justice cascade’.