Number of victims of human trafficking is increasing, says Children rights activist

Around 4,000 people have been reported victims of human trafficking in Burundi since 2015. FENADEB has said this during the celebration of World Day against Trafficking in Persons this 30 July, 2018.

Jacques Nshimirimana: The government should sign a bilateral agreement with gulf countries so as to protect those women

Jacques Nshimirimana, chairman of the National Federation of Associations Defending Children rights-FENADEB, says human trafficking in Burundi is a reality. “It does exist in Burundi. We have received several victims of human trafficking either outside or inside Burundi,” he says.

Nshimirimana says it is still difficult to eradicate this scourge because victims of human trafficking are the ones who are willing to go and usually cooperate with the dealers. “We sometimes receive messages of young women, asking us to let them go. They ignores what they are exposed to”.

He says FENADEB runs sensitization campaigns about the consequences of human trafficking but it is difficult to convince them. “Most of the victims want to escape poverty and unemployment. It becomes very difficult to prevent these young women from going there as they are convinced they will get a job”.

Samantha Sindakira, assistant to the head of the trafficking in person project at IOM says that immigration should be regulated and follow some orders like in other countries so as to avoid human trafficking. “In Tanzania, there is Tanzanian Employment Services Agency-TAESA, a branch of the minister of labour in charge of recruitment. This makes employees be safe and have good contracts with their employers”.

She says the cases of trafficking in persons that they have recorded in their organization are mainly women and girls who go to gulf countries and young men who go to do field works in Tanzania.
Nshimirimana calls on the government to sign a bilateral agreement with the gulf countries. “As these young women want to go seek a job in gulf countries the government should sign an agreement with those countries so as to protect them”.

He calls on the young women to stop going there until there is this that agreement which can protect them. “It is true that they have the right to go to search for a job but they don’t have to lose their dignity”.

This day is celebrated while Burundian women and girls who want to go in gulf countries complain about police arrests that target them these days.