Major industries: subsistence agriculture, coffee, cotton,
tea, sweet potatoes, bananas, beef, milk, blankets, shoes,
soap, assembly of imported components, pharmaceuticals,
telecommunications
Background and Recent Political
Events
Burundi
has a long history of ethnic conflict, becoming increasingly
tense in the second half of the twentieth century.
On 1 July 1962, Burundians achieved full independence
from Belgium. Since then, numerous domestic conflicts have
forced hundreds of thousands of Burundians to flee,
many to Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic
of Congo—all countries with their own histories of ethnic
conflict and civil strife.
In
1991, the military ruler of Burundi, Pierre Buyoya,
approved a constitution that provided for an elected
president and parliament. He had suspended the 1981 constitution in 1987.
The first Hutu president in Burundi was elected
and assassinated in 1993.
A civil war ensued, resulting in the death of
tens of thousands of Burundians and the displacement
of hundreds of thousands. The second Hutu president died in a plane crash
along with the President of Rwanda.
The plane crash incited the Rwandan genocide,
as well as an escalation of violence in Burundi.
While refugees fled Burundi, hundreds of thousands
of refugees entered the country from Rwanda.
Buyoya
declared himself president of Burundi in 1996 after
a bloodless coup. He disbanded the National Assembly, banned
all government opposition and imposed a national curfew. Many countries imposed economic sanctions on
Burundi and restricted diplomatic relations until Buyoya
liberalized political parties and some national policies.
Peace negotiations have been underway for several
years, but have suffered numerous setbacks.
Fighting continues between the Tutsi-dominated
army and Hutu rebel forces. Amnesty International reports
over 200,000 Burundi deaths due to ethnic violence between
1993 and 1998.
[i]
Sources estimate that about 800,000 Burundians are
either internally displaced or live as refugees in neighboring
countries, mostly in Tanzania.
[ii]
Nelson
Mandela was appointed in 1999 by regional leaders to
revive and facilitate peace talks.
To acknowledge perceived progress in the peace
process, the European Union announced on 11 December
2000 that it would end its four-year long sanctions
on development aid to Burundi next year.
In August, many women’s groups participated in
the construction of the Arusha peace accords.
Freedom
of expression has suffered because of the political
instability. Agnes Nindorera, recipient of an International
Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalist Award
in October 2000, has had her home ransacked and her
equipment confiscated, and has been told by a high government
official that she would be shot in the head if she continued
to report about government activities.
[iii]
STATUS OF WOMEN IN BURUNDI
UNDER SPECIFIC CEDAW ARTICLES:
CONVENTION ARTICLES 1-5: TRADITIONS,
STEREOTYPES, AND OBLIGATION TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION
Burundian
law prohibits discrimination.
Article 15 of Decree-Law No. 1/088 of 6 June
1998 states: “All persons are equal in dignity and in
rights and duties without distinction as to sex, origin,
race, religion or beliefs.
All persons are equal before the law and are
entitled without distinction to equal protection by
the law.”
[iv]
Despite this
legal guarantee, women face systematic discrimination
perpetuated by patriarchal Burundian traditions.
According
to Human Rights Watch, women are accorded inferior status
to men in Burundi.
Men are seen as the natural heads of their households
and women are considered dependents of male relatives
and husbands. Men
generally make decisions regarding the allocation of
the family’s resources, whether their children attend
school, whether their wives may leave the home, and
when sex with their wives will occur.
[v]
Women are required
to do all household chores, including the collection
of fuel wood, the provision of food and child care.
One
journalist reports, “Traditional Burundian society permits
husbands to use physical punishment to discipline their
wives when they are considered to have done wrong.”
[vi]
Burundian women are beaten, for example, when they
do not have dinner ready on time.
[vii]
The difficulty in eliminating discrimination
has been exacerbated by the civil unrest that has displaced
hundreds of thousands of Burundian women and men both
internally and to neighboring countries.
It is unknown how government officials intend
to carry out this obligation, now that refugees are
being repatriated at an increasing rate.
[viii]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 6: TRAFFICKING
IN WOMEN AND PROSTITUTION
There
is no known law specifically prohibiting the trafficking
of persons in Burundi,
[ix]
though laws outlining the punishments for prostitution
and the facilitation of prostitution do exist.
[x]
It is difficult to ascertain the status of
trafficking in women, because of the massive flux of
women both within Burundi and across its borders. Soldiers
require inhabitants of internal displacement camps to
cook, fetch water, and perform other chores without
compensation.
[xi]
Many women are among those required to work
without pay, as they constitute about 80 percent of
all displaced Burundians.
[xii]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 7: POLITICAL
AND PUBLIC LIFE
Women
are underrepresented in Burundian government and politics. Of the 22 cabinet members, only one, the Minister
of Women, Welfare, and Social Affairs, is a woman.
[xiii]
In 1998, the
Parliamentary Assembly expanded to 117 seats.
Women held 17 of these seats (14.5%).
[xiv]
One of nine members of the Supreme Court
is a women.
[xv]
The number of women holding political posts
peaked in 1993 at 5.03 percent and included a female
Prime Minister from July 1993 to February 1994.
During the period of unrest, this figure declined
back to 3.4 percent.
[xvi]
Women’s
groups were, for many years, excluded from all government
peace negotiations. Marie Goretti Nduwayo, the National Program
Officer of UNIFEM in Burundi, reports that women turned
to international fora to help facilitate their inclusion:
“With the help of Ms. Speciose Kazibwe, the Vice President
of Uganda, and Ms. Perry, the ex-President of Liberia,
they managed to organize a conference in Uganda, after
which they met H.E. Museveni, the President of Uganda,
who accepted to negotiate the participation of Burundian
women in the Burundi peace negotiation in Arusha.”
[xvii]
The
Final Declaration, drafted at the All-Party Burundi
Women’s Peace Conference in July 2000 in Arusha, marked
the end of the exclusion of women in the peacemaking
process. All
19 peace negotiation parties agreed to incorporate women’s
concerns in the final peace accord.
The accord includes 23 of the recommendations
made in the Final Declaration.
[xviii]
Recommendations made by the Women’s Peace conference
include: a women’s charter in the new constitution,
a 30% quota of women in the legislature, explicit statements
in the peace accord on women’s property and inheritance
rights, policies ensuring girls equal access to education
at all levels, and that mechanisms to ensure these rights
have sufficient budget.
[xix]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 9: NATIONALITY
A
woman cannot transmit Burundian citizenship to a foreign
husband or any children that she has with that husband.
A child may only have the nationality of her or his
mother if the father is unknown.
A Burundian male who marries a foreign woman
may transmit Burundian citizenship both to the woman
and their children.
[xx]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 10: EDUCATION
The
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa stated
in 1990 that women in Burundi need better educational
opportunities and targeted the improvement of low literacy
rates as the key to integrating women into the national
development process.
[xxi]
Since then, the gap between men’s and women’s literacy
rates has narrowed very little.
One source reports that around 20 percent of
women and just under 50 percent of men in Burundi are
literate.
[xxii]
Fifty-three percent of primary school-age
girls are not in school. The percentage of girls making up the student
body decreases after primary school as well. Girls constitute 45 percent of the primary schools, but only 39
percent of the secondary schools and 26 percent of institutions
of higher education.
[xxiii]
Almost half of the girls expelled from secondary
school have been expelled because of pregnancy.
[xxiv]
The
women who participated in the All-Party Burundi Women’s
Peace Conference in July 2000 acknowledged education
discrimination and proposed in their Final Declaration,
“Education is the greatest leveler, and therefore we
ask that all Burundian girls have equal access as boys
to primary, secondary and higher education.”
[xxv]
Hutu and Twa
women face special obstacles in accessing education,
as institutions of higher education are attended primarily
by the Tutsi minority.
[xxvi]
Traditionally in rural areas, women are
expected to perform hard farm labor, marry and have
children at a young age.
All of these cultural expectations limit women’s
educational opportunities.
[xxvii]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 11: EMPLOYMENT
Women
are underrepresented in most economic sectors.
For example, there are 16 women per 100 men in
administrative and managerial posts in Burundi.
[xxviii]
For every 100 men in professional and technical positions,
there are 44 women.
[xxix]
The US State Department reports, “By law,
women must receive the same pay as men for the same
work, but in practice they do not. Women are far less likely to hold mid-level or high-level positions.”
[xxx]
Because
women are responsible for work in the home, many women
find it difficult to work outside of the home.
Collecting and preparing food for the family
is time-consuming, and women’s participation in the
market economy is often limited to unregulated agricultural
activities. Credit
practices in Burundi discriminate against women.
[xxxi]
The
UN Economic Commission for Africa calls for national
and international support for women to participation
in the private sector. According to the Commission, “Women must also be encouraged and
given the technological and financial means to create
small and medium-sized commercial enterprises.”
[xxxii]
Among others, the EU has donated 150 million euros
(134.4 million US$)
[xxxiii]
and the World Bank has offered 50 million
US$ for reconstruction and development in Burundi.
[xxxiv]
It is unknown whether the government plans
to use some portion of the money to help end discrimination
against women by enhancing their employment opportunities
through microcredit or other loan programs that encourage
women’s participation in the Burundian economy.
CONVENTION ARTICLE 12: HEALTH
CARE AND FAMILY PLANNING
Burundi
is growing annually at a rate of over three percent.
Almost half of the population is under 15 years old.
A Burundian woman has an average of 6.25 children
in her lifetime
[xxxv]
and has a one in twelve chance of dying from pregnancy-related
causes.
[xxxvi]
The official maternal mortality rate is 1,300
deaths per 100,000 live births
[xxxvii]
and the infant mortality rate is 105 per
1000 live births.
[xxxviii]
More than 80 percent of all births in Burundi
take place in homes, where unsterile conditions and
lack of skilled assistance are a problem.
[xxxix]
Also, rural women work up to 17 hours a day
when they are pregnant, often until their first contractions
begin.
[xl]
The Burundian government has recognized
the need for effective family planning, but it is unknown
what has been done to combat the dangers that face women
in childbearing.
The
UN National Population Program for Burundi calls for
research that identifies the causes of and helps combat
the following heath care problems that affect women
in Burundi: low frequency visits to health care centers,
malnutrition in children, low contraception use, and
insufficient AIDS and family planning training programs.
[xli]
It is unclear
what progress has been made in these areas, especially
with the fighting which has forced so many citizens
from their homes. It is also unclear what effect the recent malaria
outbreaks, which have affected 276,000 people in the
northern Burundian highlands since October 2000, have
specifically on women.
[xlii]
Some clinics report a 500 percent increase
in cases compared to a year ago.
[xliii]
In
1999, the government led the forcible relocation of
333,000 ethnic Hutus to “regroupment sites” in Burundi
with inadequate sanitation and insufficient access to
water, food and medicine.
[xliv]
Women and children comprise between 80 and 90 percent
of all displaced Burundians.
Women suffer disproportionately from the poor
health conditions that accompany displacement.
AIDS
infection in Burundi ranks 15th worldwide. AIDS infection among women has risen drastically in the past few
years, and in 2000, more Burundian women than men suffer
from AIDS. An estimated 185,000 women have AIDS.
[xlv]
In urban areas,
16 percent of women 15 to 24 years old are HIV seropositive,
as are 24 percent of women 25 to 34 years old.
[xlvi]
Despite this alarming trend, the National AIDS
Control Program (PNLS) reports that campaigns informing
the population about the means of HIV contamination
and prevention have had little effect on the sex habits
of Burundians as few men use condoms.
[xlvii]
Reported contraceptive use among couples of
childbearing age is nine percent.
[xlviii]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 15: EQUALITY
BEFORE THE LAW
Widow’s
inheritance rights are commonly restricted in Burundi.
[xlix]
Because of
the political instability, it is difficult to know whether
other violations of women’s rights regarding their status
before the law are gender specific. Nonetheless, women face unfair trials in Burundi.
In one case, Marie Rose Umahoro was denied a
lawyer for most of her trial and was denied the right
to call witnesses to her defense, after being accused
of participating in the massacre of members of the Tutsi
group. She was
sentenced to death after the unfair trial and three
weeks of torture and interrogation at a Karuzi police
station. Amnesty International Canada reports that Umahoro, who was seven
months pregnant, was forced to kneel on broken glass.
[l]
Hutu
and Twa women face additional discrimination in legal
matters. Ethnic Tutsis account for 95 percent of all
Burundian judges and lawyers and most citizens assume
that the judicial system is biased against them, promoting
Tutsi interests.
[li]
CONVENTION ARTICLE 16: MARRIAGE
AND FAMILY LAW
In
Burundi, a husband traditionally makes the majority
of family decisions, including those regarding the management
of family finances and the education of their children.
Men do not share household responsibilities nor
do they share equally in child rearing. All of these inequalities have been exacerbated
by the civil conflict.
Human Rights Watch reports that many Burundian
men have begun to marry additional wives in displacement
and refugee camps during the conflict, even though polygamy
is illegal in Burundi.
Some men take their families’ food rations to
give to their new wives, thus depriving their families
of their basic needs.
[lii]
Others take their families’ belongings and flee with
their new girlfriends or spouses.
[liii]
Women do not have equal rights in such illegal
marital dissolutions.
GENERAL RECOMMENDATION NO.
19: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
During
the conflict, mass rapes have been reported in Burundi.
[liv]
Domestic
violence was already a problem in Burundi sans ethnic
conflict. The displacement of women and families during
the unrest has worsened the state of violence against
women. Human Rights Watch monitored the situation
of Burundian refugees in Tanzania from 1997 to 1999
and recently released a lengthy report detailing the
violence inflicted on Burundian women. This is particularly significant as the Burundian
government repatriates women refugees or allows forcibly
displaced women to return home.
Human
Rights Watch reports:
“Through
firsthand research and from information obtained from
humanitarian aid organizations working with the refugees,
we found that a significant proportion of women had
experienced repeated physical assaults by their husbands
or intimate partners while living as refugees in the
camps. Victims
had been assaulted with fists, bottles, shoes, sticks,
and even machetes (pangas), and some had required hospitalization
for their injuries.
Many women interviewed by Human Rights Watch
bore visible scars, bruises, or had broken fingers,
missing teeth, or cuts on their faces and bodies.
Some had suffered miscarriages or sexually transmitted
diseases as a result of domestic sexual assault.”
[lv]
Some
Burundian women experience fear and guilt from the violence
they suffer, sometimes even feeling responsible for
the violence. Others feel doubly victimized: first by the national conflict, and
second by their husbands. Still others expressed a desire
to return to Burundi despite the conflict so they could
escape their husbands.
[lvi]
Male
dominance has created a nearly inescapable cycle of
violence for many displaced Burundian women.
Men are given the food rations in many camps
because they are considered the heads-of-household. Though women may, in some cases, seek ration
cards, many are either unaware of the policy or afraid
to do so, fearing that their husbands will beat them
or that the current level of violence will escalate.
Some husbands either sell their families’ food
or give it to girlfriends or second families. Several women told HRW that they were beaten
or threatened when they questioned this behavior. Many women remain with abusive husbands for fear of losing access
to food rations for their families.
[lvii]
Many
women in refugee camps seek redress through local, camp-based
organizations called abashingatahe, but often women
receive no redress and are blamed for improper behavior
that provokes violence.
Burundian women at home and refugees in Tanzania
rarely complain to the police and, though over 200,000
cases of domestic violence have been reported in the
camps of Tanzania, HRW estimates that these estimates
dwarf the reality, because of underreporting.
[lviii]
ACTIONS TAKEN BY OTHER UN
HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
PERTAINING TO WOMEN’S HUMAN
RIGHTS:
Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Burundi. 16
October 2000. CRC/C/15/Add. 133.
Main subjects of concern and
recommendations:
·
The Committee
is concerned that plans to adopt a single legal instrument
gathering together all provisions relative to the rights
and duties of children have not been completed, that
not all elements of domestic legislation are in conformity
with the provisions of the Convention and that customary
law and traditional practices involving, inter-alia,
inheritance violate the rights of children, and of girls
in particular.
·
The Committee
is concerned by the low minimum age of 12 at which formal
education is no longer compulsory and joins with the
State party in expressing concern at differences between
the legal minimum age for the marriage of girls
and boys and at the minimum age of recruitment to the
armed forces.
·
The Committee
recommends that the State party raise the age until
which children are legally obliged to receive a formal
education and consider linking the new age limit with
the current minimum limit at which children are legally
permitted to work, that of 16.
The Committee recommends,
that the State party pursue its efforts to harmonize
the minimum age of marriage for girls and boys
and that legislative measures be taken to raise the
minimum age of recruitment to the armed forces to 18.
·
The Committee
is deeply concerned at gross violations of the right
to non-discrimination and at the impact of discrimination
upon children and notes that discrimination takes different
forms including, by ethnic origin, gender, geographical
origin (within the country) and social status. The Committee notes, in addition, that other
forms of discrimination lead to concerns with regard
to, inter-alia, access to resources, property inheritance,
rights to nationality and the access of girls
to education.
·
The Committee expresses concern at acts of cruelty, ill-treatment,
abuse including sexual abuse and neglect and practices
such as the seizure of property belonging to orphans,
committed against children in the context of the family,
including the extended family recommends that the State
party take steps to establish effective mechanisms for
timely reporting and response to domestic violence and
abuse against or affecting children, to prosecute individuals
who violate criminal law and to protect children from
cruelty and other acts, such as the seizure of property
from orphaned children.
·
The Committee
is deeply concerned by low immunization rate, high levels
of malnutrition and micro-nutrition deficiencies and
by extremely poor health conditions among children in
general and particularly in camps and by high mortality
rates among children, by high maternal mortality
rates, by low investment in health care, the limited
number of hospitals and health centers that are operational,
the limited drug supply and relative cost of existing
medicines including generic drugs and the concentration
of medical professionals in Bujumbura city.
·
The Committee
recommends that the State party pursue and increase
its current efforts to promote awareness and prevention
of HIV/AIDS and seek assistance in this regard from
UNAIDS; The Committee is concerned at the inadequacy
of specialized psychological care in almost all regions
of the State party and the substantial need for such
assistance among children who have suffered from, inter-alia,
the ongoing armed conflict, displacement, regroupment,
sexual abuse and living conditions in camps.
The Committee recommends that the State party
increase its efforts to make psychological assistance
available to those children who have experienced trauma
and to increase human resources in the area of psychological
care by providing specialized mental health training
for existing health professionals.
·
The Committee
is further concerned by the limited access of children
with disabilities to formal or vocational education
opportunities and by the proportionally reduced number
of girls attending primary or secondary education.
The Committee recommends that
that every effort be made to ensure the equal
access of girls and boys to education opportunities.
·
The Committee
is concerned by the situation of children living and
working on the streets and children living on their
own and without proper housing in the countryside hills.
The Committee is concerned, inter-alia, by the poor
access of such children to health, education and other
services, by reports that the numbers of children living
or working on the streets is continuing to increase
and by the particular vulnerability of girls in
these situations.
Concluding observations of
the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination:
Burundi. 18 September 1997. CERD/C/304/Add. 42.
No recommendations concerning
women were issued by this Committee.
Concluding Observations of
the Human Rights Committee: Burundi. 3 March 1994. CCPR/C/79/Add.41.
No recommendations concerning
women were issued by this Committee.
[i]
US Department
of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-Burundi,
25 February, 2000, available at < www.state.gov/www/global/human_rights/1999_hrp_report/burundi.html>,
accessed on 20 December 2000.
[ii]
IRIN, Burundian Repatriation; US Department of
State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Burundi.
[iii]
“Women
From Burundi, Kyrgyzstan And Britain Receive Journalism
Awards,” available at <www.google.com/search?q=burundi+women&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&start=20&sa=N>,
accessed on 7 December 2000.
[iv]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 7.
[v]
Human Rights
Watch, available at < www.hrw.org/reports/2000/tanzania/Cuhweb-05.htm#P320_50378,
accessed 13 December 2000.
[vi]
Jim Lobe,
“More Must Be Done to Protect Refugee Women from Rape,
Abuse,” Inter Press Service, 26 September 2000,
available at <www.oneworld.net/ips2/sept00/00_21_003.html>,
accessed 19 December 2000.
[vii]
Human Rights
Watch.
[viii]
“Tanzania:
Burundian Repatriation To Be Agreed,” Refugees Daily, 7 December 2000, available at <www.unhcr.ch/refworld/cgi-bin/newscountry.pl?country=Burundi>,
accessed 11 December 2000.
[ix]
US Department of State.
[x]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 14.
[xi]
US Department
of State.
[xiv]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 14.
[xv]
US Department
of State.
[xvi]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 14.
[xvii]
Marie Goretti
Nduwayo, “Women Peace-Building Actions In Burundi,”
Women And Armed Conflict List Archive,
available at < www3.undp.org/ww/women-armdconf/msg00116.html>,
accessed 13 December 2000.
[xviii]
“Burundi:
Women’s Peace Role Lauded At Security Council,” Reliefweb, available at < www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/countrystories/burundi/20001026c.phtml>,
accessed 13 December 2000.
[xix]
UN Security
Council, “Final Declaration: All-Party Burundi Women’s
Peace Conference,” Open
Debate on Women, Peace and Security, available
at <www.unifem.undp.org/unseccouncil/womendecl.html>
accessed 13 December 2000.
[xx]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 14.
[xxi]
United
Nations Commission for Africa, “National Population
Programme of 1990,” Troiseme Conference Africaine sur la Population,
Rapport des Pays, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1994
, available at <cyber.law.harvard.edu/population/policies/BURUNDI.POP.htm>,
accessed 13 November 2000.
[xxii]
Naomi Neft
and Ann D. Levine, Where
Women Stand: An International Report on the Status
of Women in 140 Countries 1997-1998, New York:
Random House, 1997, 31.
[xxiv]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 32.
[xxv]
UN Security
Council.
[xxvi]
US Department
of State.
[xxx]
US Department
of State.
[xxxii]
United
Nations Commission for Africa.
[xxxiii]
“Burundi:
EU resumes development aid,” Africa
Newswire, 11 December 2000, available at <www.africanewswire.com/annews/categories/burundi/story3759.shtml>, accessed 13 December 2000.
[xxxv]
CIA, The
World Factbook.
[xxxix]
United
Nations, CEDAW, Initial Reports of States Parties:
Burundi (CEDAW/C/BDI/1 ): 29.
[xli]
United
Nations Commission for Africa.
[xlii]
IRIN. “WHO
warns of increasing malaria danger,” IRIN
Burundi Archive, 5 December 2000, available at
<www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/archive/burundi.phtml>,
accessed 13 December 2000.
[xlv]
“AIDS Infection
Ranks 15th Worldwide,”
Panafrican News Agency, 12 December 2000, available at <allafrica.com/stories/200012130011.html>,
accessed 13 December 2000.
[xlvi]
United
Nations Commission for Africa.
[xlvii]
“AIDS Infection
Ranks 15th Worldwide.”
[l]
Amnesty
International Canada, “Burundi: The Search For Justice,”
available at <www.amnesty.ca/women/Burundi.htm>, accessed 13 December
2000.
[li]
US State
Department.
[liii]
Human Rights
Watch, Chirumbidzo Mabuwa, “Seeking Protection: Addressing
Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania’s Refugee
Camps,” available at <www.hrw.org/reports/2000/tanzania/Duhweb-03.htm#P184_8969>,
accessed 13 December 2000.
[liv]
Neft and
Levine, 158.
