At the end of August 2020, Burundi and Tanzania signed an agreement that refugees will be able to return home, regardless of whether they want to or not before the end of the year. However, according to a Burundian NGO, about fifty of them were victims of serious violations and 170 others have been reported missing since 2015.
It is the Burundian coalition of human rights defenders living in refugee camps that alerted and demanded an investigation by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This organization claims to have contributed to the latest Human Rights Watch report which referred to many cases of forced disappearances, torture and refoulements. The US NGO said it had documented atrocities against at least 18 refugees since the end of 2019. The Burundian NGO claims to have counted about fifty.
Last week, the Special Rapporteur on Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Africa condemned the growing pressure on Burundian refugees from the Tanzanian authorities to obtain their forced departure. She urged them to stop bullying.
Between September 2017 and the end of October 2019, almost 79,000 refugees had decided to return voluntarily to Burundi under an agreement between the two countries and the UNHCR. About 700 weeks ago took place on average when the two countries expected a return of 2000 returns per week. Hence the new agreement signed in August which provides for voluntary or forced departure for all Burundian refugees from Tanzania. What worries human rights activists today.
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