CANKUZO August 1st (ABP) – The people of Cankuzo province are called upon to denounce any individual complicit in the offense of human trafficking. Those are the words of the adviser in charge of socio-cultural affairs in the governor’s office, Mrs. Evelyne Dusenge. On Wednesday, July 27, in Cendajuru commune on Misugi hill, an awareness session in the fight against that trafficking was organized, via a play by that province in collaboration with the IOM, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
Some people interviewed by the Burundi News Agency (ABP) indicated that young children are transported to the United Republic of Tanzania for various types of forced labour. According to them, these children return empty-handed or with little money.
Vénérande Misago from that Misugi village of Cendajuru commune said that her daughter disappeared completely when she left for this country after dropping out of school.
That situation was confirmed by the administrator of that commune, Mr. Paulin Sindayigaya who revealed that this milking is mainly frequent with children from 7 to 12 years old who are engaged there for the guard of cattle grazing in the bush.
As for Aurélie Ntakarutimana, who represented the IOM, the reason for leaving was, among other things, poverty, orphanage, unwanted pregnancies, etc. She mentioned that there is even internal trafficking in human beings where children trade in eggs and peanuts on the street, which for her must be eradicated because, she explained, the children’s place is in school.
It was when the adviser in charge of socio-cultural affairs in the governor’s office called on the population to break with this bad habit and to denounce any author who is an accomplice in such a case to suffer sanctions in accordance with the law.
Thus, as has been pointed out, article 10 on the prevention and repression of human trafficking and the protection of victims of trafficking punishes with penal servitude from 5 to 10 years any person accused of transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving a child for the purpose of exploitation.
Note that in this province, 42 cases relating to complicity in that human trafficking offense have already been processed since 2021 according to information found with the judicial police.