Burundi

A man carries water close to Bujumbura in Burundi.
© UNICEF/Karel Prinsloo

Torture, killings, lawlessness, still blight Burundi’s rights record

16 September 2021
Peace and Security

The people of Burundi continue to endure serious human rights violations including possible crimes against humanity, the majority committed by those with links to the ruling party, UN-appointed independent investigators said on Thursday.

Elisabeth, now 16 years old, has been reunited with her family in Burundi.
© IOM 2021/Lauriane Wolfe

First Person: ‘I’m not old enough to be a woman’ says trafficked teen

29 July 2021
Women

A teenage girl who was sold for sex for the price of a few beers as a twelve-year-old, has told the United Nations how she was trafficked between Burundi and Tanzania in East Africa.

A man wades through what is left of Bujumbura’s nautical centre.
IOM 2021/Armel Nkunzimana

FROM THE FIELD: A flood of humanitarian needs for Burundi lake dwellers

17 July 2021
Migrants and Refugees

Some 52,000 people have been displaced by flooding in Burundi since March this year, following the rise of waters in Lake Tanganyika in East Africa and most need humanitarian assistance, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Repatriated Burundians from Tanzania in the transit center of Mabanda, Makamba province, Burundi. (file)
OCHA/Christian Cricboom

Burundi refugees in Tanzania living in fear: UN rights experts

13 April 2021
Human Rights

The rights of refugees and asylum seekers who have fled Burundi for Tanzania must be respected, experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Tuesday in an appeal to authorities in both countries. 

Refugees from Burundi prepare to board a flight back home in December 2020.
© UNHCR/Samuel Otieno

Burundi: UN refugee agency appeals for over $220 million in ‘crucial’ support

16 February 2021
Migrants and Refugees

An urgent appeal for $222.6 million was made on Tuesday by the UN refugee agency and partners to assist more than 315,000 Burundian refugees this year. 

Twenty-four years after the Rwanda genocide, survivor Liberée Kayumba, a Monitoring Officer with WFP, is now helping refugees coming to the country.
WFP/Jonathan Eng

FROM THE FIELD: The genocide survivor helping others avoid starvation

7 January 2021
Humanitarian Aid

During the 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi In Rwanda, Liberee Kayumba avoided starvation thanks to emergency rations from the World Food Programme (WFP). Today, she is helping to ensure that Burundian refugees in the country have enough to eat.

Children fill their cups at a water point built by UNICEF at Kanyosha III primary school in Bujumbura, Burundi.
UNICEF/UNI180029/Colfs

AU and UN appeal for ‘stable and peaceful environment’ for Burundi elections

17 May 2020
Peace and Security

Ahead of presidential and local elections in Burundi on Wednesday, the African Union (AU) Commission and the United Nations (UN) urged the authorities to provide a safe and secure environment for citizens to cast their votes.

WHO representative to Burundi Dr. Walter Kazadi Mulombo (2nd left) during the official launch of mother and child week in 2019.
WHO Burundi

WHO seeking further details on staff expulsion from Burundi

14 May 2020
Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) was on Thursday seeking to clarify why authorities in Burundi have expelled its top official in the country and three other staff members, the UN agency’s Regional Director for Africa told journalists during a press briefing on COVID-19.

A young Burundian refugee completes an exercise on a blackboard at Jugudi Primary School in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Kigoma Province, north-west Tanzania. (February 2019)
© UNHCR/Farha Bhoyroo

Burundi election countdown amid ‘deteriorating’ human rights situation

10 March 2020
Human Rights

Two months ahead of Burundi’s planned local and presidential elections, senior UN-appointed independent rights investigators have urged the Government to reopen the “democratic, civil and political space” there.

Victims of the Ebola virus disease have been buried at a cemetery in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
UN/Martine Perret

Newly licensed vaccine, ‘milestone in the fight’ against Ebola in Africa, UN health agency

14 February 2020
Health

Four countries in Africa have licensed an Ebola vaccine to “cement hard-fought progress” in keeping their people safe from the deadly disease, the UN health agency said on Friday.