Human trafficking in Burundi

Burundi ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in May 2012.^[1]

In 2010 the government made clear progress in combating trafficking during the reporting period, particularly with regard to identifying trafficking victims, investigating potential trafficking offenses, and raising public awareness. In 2009, a Bujumbura court heard a case involving child domestic servitude, the first known prosecution of a case involving elements of a human trafficking offense. ^[2] In 2014, a law was enacted that criminalized all forms of trafficking, but little was done to enforce action, so many officials did not change how trafficking was prioritized or recognized.^[3]

In 2018, Burundi was a source country for children and possibly women subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of involuntary domestic servitude and forced prostitution. Children and young adults may also have been coerced into forced labor on plantations or small farms in southern Burundi, or to conduct informal commerce in the streets. Child labor was very common in agricultural fields where major exports, like tea and coffee, were harvested. Forced labour of children and adults was also very common in mines due to a large market for valuable stones and ores. Many trafficking victims could be found in mines in the northern area of Burundi, especially around Cibitoke. Some traffickers may have ben family or acquaintances of victims who, under the pretext of assisting underprivileged children with education or with false promises of lucrative jobs, subjected them to forced labor, most commonly as domestic servants. While there was little evidence of large-scale child prostitution, “benevolent” older females offered vulnerable younger girls room and board within their homes, and in some cases eventually pushed them into prostitution to pay for living expenses; extended family members also financially profited from the commercial sexual exploitation of young relatives residing with them. It was most common for the trafficking of victims to remain internal within the country or to extend only to the surrounding countries.^[4] Male tourists from Oman and the United Arab Emirates exploit Burundian girls in prostitution. Businessmen recruit Burundian girls for commercial sexual exploitation in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda, and recruit boys and girls for exploitation in various types of forced labor in Tanzania. Unlike in past years, there were no reports of forced or voluntary recruitment of children into government armed forces or rebel groups during the reporting period.^[2] If the trafficking of Burundians does extend externally, it is most common for them to be sent to locations in the Middle East and Western Europe.^[4]

In 2021 the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that "over 1,000 victims of human trafficking have been identified and assisted in Burundi since 2017."^[5]

The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons provides a Trafficking in Persons Report annually. In this report, every country is ranked on the basis of its government's participation in combating human trafficking and the following of the standards set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000. "Tier 1" is the best possible ranking while "Tier 3" is the worst possible ranking. From 2015 to 2020 Burundi was given a ranking of "Tier 3." However, considerable changes have been made by the government and Burundi was given a ranking of "Tier 2" in the 2021 report.^[3] The country remained at Tier 2 in 2023.^[6]

In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 8.5 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting numbers had increased during Covid and state officials took little practical action to tackle this crime.^[7]