Contact: Rachel Watson 212.551.0959
Burundi’s Internal Refugees
Weak UN Presence and Ongoing Violence Compound Crisis
New York, NY - January 17, 2001- A weak United Nations has failed Burundi's estimated half a million internal refugees, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children states in a report released today on conflict and displacement in Burundi.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind urges the United Nations to appoint a strong, competent leader to coordinate protection and assistance for approximately 500,000 people who have been displaced within Burundi since the current conflict began in 1993. These internal refugees live in displacement camps, hide out in the hills or shelter with friends and relatives. Most of them are women and children, at risk from violence and disease.
"All too frequently these displaced families are out of sight, out of mind by the international community," said Susan F. Martin, Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University, who headed the Women’s Commission delegation to Burundi. "The UN must strengthen its leadership role in Burundi regarding internally displaced people. Immediate steps must be taken to improve assistance to the displaced and to increase their safety and security."
"Out of Sight, Out of Mind" also urges all parties in Burundi’s ongoing peace process to continue to negotiate for a cease-fire. The fighting is hampering already limited efforts to provide humanitarian relief.
"The rebels who refused to sign the peace agreement are the principal barriers to peace. They attack aid workers and continue to raid villages, killing residents and forcing others to flee," said Ms. Martin, a founding member of the Women’s Commission. "But the Burundian government compounds the harm to its own citizens by not sufficiently reining in extremist military, and forcibly relocating civilians without regard to their security or their rights."
While strengthening its own presence, the UN should work with international non-governmental organizations to develop stronger working relationships with resourceful local NGOs, including women’s and children’s associations, and national institutions that may have a greater ability to reach internally displaced persons, the report recommends. Reproductive health services are especially needed to help women who have suffered the trauma of rape and sexual violence, and to educate Burundians about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.
"Burundi is one of the most difficult places in which to undertake humanitarian work today," said Mary Diaz, Executive Director of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children. "We applaud the dedication of humanitarian staff who continue to work in such difficult circumstances and ask the international community, the Burundian government and all other protagonists to ensure that life-saving protection and assistance reaches the internally displaced women and children of Burundi."
The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children visited Burundi in October 2000. "Out of Sight, Out of Mind - Conflict and Displacement in Burundi" is available in the reports section at www.womenscommission.org
For more details contact Rachel Watson: Phone:212 551 0959 Email: rachelw@theIRC.org
The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children is the only organization in the United States dedicated solely to speaking out on behalf of refugee women and children. It provides expertise in the areas of reproductive health, protection and participation, asylum issues and refugee children and adolescents, Currently there are almost 34 million refugees and internally displaced civilians worldwide--80 percent of whom are women and children.
