Terre des hommes (Tdh) is taking care of children in Burundi marginalised due to administrative deficiencies, illness or ethnic conflicts responsible for the disintegration of the society.


Solutions proposed by Terre des hommes

Juvenile justice – Tdh supports the national administration of juvenile justice in order to establish mechanisms to protect children’ rights: adoption of legislation protecting minors from deprivation of liberty, encouraging educational measures of punishment and reintegration in society.

Assisting orphans and vulnerable children – Tdh provides advice and training to community groups supporting children orphaned due to the conflict or HIV/AIDS. Provided with health care, accommodation, education these children are looked after socially. Tdh also works at a higher national level: cases of abandoned children are reported to administrative bodies.

Children living on the streets – Tdh’s partner, Giriyuja, is providing information to children on the dangers of living on the streets. Social workers provide medical and psychological support. The local association also encourages familial reuniting and educational reintegration.


Results achieved in 2008

Minors in conflict with the law – Legal and social assistance has been offered to 142 detained minors. Two training courses have been organised for 165 professionals working in the area of juvenile justice (police, magistrates and social workers).

Orphans and vulnerable children – in seven towns of intervention 25 community groups have been created and 18 new ones identified in January 2009. Those community groups are looking after 2,300 children in the towns of Ngozi and Gitega.

Children living on the streets – 390 children living in the streets of Bujumbura received psychosocial or medical support. 129 children returned to their families or to education with material support.


Challenges to be taken up

After more than15 years of civil war the situation has been stable since 2008. But security problems are still a current concern, limiting the scope of intervention of NGOs. In the capital a climate of violence is maintained by the enlisting of adults living on the streets to the ranks of political parties. Wars or illness are not just suffered by children. After the Kirundo (province in the north) famine 500,000 persons fled to Rwanda to find food and work. Within two months 3,000 children without any means of support abandoned their schooling.


The children victims of prison hell

Is it necessary to spend time in prison to become aware of the value of life and liberty?

A sordid, self-managed, hierarchical prison, often without food and water. Two children denounce the racketeering involving the adult prisoners, the beating suffered by the 68 minors and how rarely the prison guards intervened – not differently than the inmates. Egide, 15, Fabrice, 14, were accused of the rape of a 4 year old girl. The mother of this child had found her with a tear in her crotch. Convinced she has been raped she was easily able to influence the enquiries and turn these two boys into criminals.
Concerned by the fact that these children were young, Terre des hommes quickly took charge. The social workers appointed lawyers who helped them ensure that all legal and judicial procedures were complied with. They reconstructed the story, obtained witness statements, medical tests and expert reports: the little girl just had an infection due to using a plant as toilet paper.
After one year in prison the boys were acquitted and reunited with their families. When Fabrice’s grandmother remembers this moment she laughs and claps, with tears in her eyes. However, the children had more or less gone past the time by which they could have continued with a normal education. And before Tdh intervened the two families had also already spent their savings in legal costs. Tdh’s work is thus not yet finished: the children will be monitored in their social and professional reintegration. «And there are plenty of children in prison», Egide reminds us.