Human trafficking : ONLCT warns of the plight of Burundian migrants imprisoned in Tanzania

SOS Médias Burundi,

Bujumbura, August 3, 2025 – On the occasion of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, celebrated on July 30, the National Observatory for the Fight against Transnational Crime (ONLCT) “Where is your Brother?” warns of a worrying upsurge in this scourge in Burundi. The organization emphasizes that young people and children, particularly during summer holidays, are the main victims.

In its press release, the ONLCT deplores the fact that this international day is taking place while hundreds of Burundians, mostly young people, are currently incarcerated in Tanzania for irregular migration. Since June 2025, the organization has documented 476 Burundian migrants arrested and detained in various locations : 64 in Ngara, 93 in Mwanza, 175 in Silali, 13 in Nyakahura—where they were stripped of their belongings—38 in Kumunzane and Ntanga, and 93 others in Kibondo, in Kigoma province, which borders Burundi in northwest Tanzania.

According to the ONLCT, most of them were using Tanzania as a transit country to Kenya, hoping to find better living conditions there, often at the risk of their freedom and security.

Strong recommendations to the government

Faced with this alarming situation, the organization calls on Burundian authorities to act urgently. It makes two main recommendations :

1. Appoint ambassadors committed to defending migrants’ rights, emphasizing that some diplomats in post do not seem to pay sufficient attention to protecting their fellow citizens abroad.
2. Modernize the mechanisms for granting travel and residence documents to migrants and members of the diaspora, to facilitate their regularization without the obligation to return home.

The ONLCT considers the lack of access to these documents to be one of the major causes of irregular migration and, consequently, human trafficking.

In the same press release, lawyer Prime Mbarubukeye, President and Legal Representative of the ONLCT, reiterates that the fight against human trafficking cannot succeed without a political will and a genuine diplomatic commitment to protect the most vulnerable.