A court in Rutana eastern province has sentenced Jean Paul Ndayishimiye, 22, to five years of forced labor and a fine of 500,000 Burundian francs for human trafficking.
In a swift trial, Ndayishimiye, from Bukinga Hill in Gitaramuka Commune, Karusi eastern province, was found guilty of trafficking minors. He was arrested on November 27, 2024, in Bugiga Hill, Rutana Province, with four children aged between 13 and 14.
Ndayishimiye did not deny the charges but explained that he had been hired by a Tanzanian national who promised him 5,000 Tanzanian shillings for each child he delivered.
This case is part of a concerning trend that has seen a rise in child trafficking from Burundi to Tanzania, with children subjected to degrading treatment upon arrival. Civil society organizations advocating for children’s rights have issued multiple warnings about the alarming increase in these trafficking cases.
In mid-September 2024, 40 Burundian children who had been trafficked to Tanzania in search of work were rescued by Tanzanian police and returned to Burundi through the Mabanda border post in Makamba southern province.
This follows another high-profile case on October 19, 2024, when Egide from Njuragati Hill, Rutana province, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay 3 million BIF for trafficking children to Tanzania. This sentence was widely praised by child rights organizations in Burundi.
In November, FENADEB, a collective advocating for children’s rights, reported that over 600 people were trafficked to Tanzania in the past year alone, primarily for exploitative labor. “More than 80% of these victims are between 9 and 17 years old,” FENADEB said in a statement.
2 Comments