A year has passed after the arrest followed by detention of around twenty people accused of homosexuality in the political capital of Burundi, Gitega. After clearing them of any allegations of homosexuality, the Gitega Court of Appeal recently released all these detainees, some having been acquitted and others having served a one-year sentence. However, since the start of the case, one person involved has died and around ten members of the LGBT community including Claudia have fled the country. Claudia says she has been navigating the unknown since the start of her exile. (Le Mandat)
Claudia is housed and fed with a small fund that allows her to meet her other basic needs to survive in an African country. She wants the name of the country not to be revealed. The life she leads is similar to that of other members of the LGBT community who have fled Burundi since February 2023 to take refuge, for the most part, in the east and west of the African continent. In her country of exile, Claudia feels abandoned by both national and international organizations. Claudia also feels that she is not safe at all. “I have no legal support. It is very important to report this because in the event of a search here, the police can easily arrest me. I have no document that guarantees my security. I need at least a proof of residence. I also need psycho-social and medical support which I cannot obtain at the moment. In summary, I am very vulnerable here.” Claudia, however, is not ready to repatriate to her country of origin, Burundi, despite all these problems of exile and despite the recent definitive release of around twenty people cleared of any allegation of homosexuality.
Around twenty people arrested a year ago at the office of the non-profit organization Muco are now all free.
The last releases took place during the weekend.On Monday, we will share an exclusive article on the situation of LGBT people in #Burundi https://t.co/I4qHtrXuvT
— Le Mandat (@LeMandat2) February 25, 2024
Claudia’s refusal was categorical when the journalist from the press agency “Le Mandat” asked her the question about returning to her home country. “Our President added fuel to the fire when he publicly declared that the lynching of homosexuals was not a sin. No, I can’t go back there at the moment.”
Responding to a question from a journalist during a public conference on December 29, 2023, the President of the Republic of Burundi Evariste Ndayishimiye said his country could not accept funding from a rich country that would oblige it to authorize same-sex marriage. President Evariste Ndayishimiye added that homosexuals were destined to be stoned and that the perpetrators of the stoning would not have committed any sin.
Human rights defender Janvier Bigirimana immediately asked President Evariste Ndayishimiye to withdraw his scandalous and unworthy remarks for a head of State. According to lawyer Janvier Bigirimana, the Head of State violated not only Burundian law, starting with the Constitution, but also other international instruments which guarantee the right to life for every citizen. “I call on the vigilance of the population and the Burundian authorities in the face of this speech because tomorrow it is our children, the children of the Burundian leaders, the children of the President of the Republic, who risk being lynched by the population when they are accused or suspected of being homosexuals in accordance with this scandalous and shameful speech by the head of State.”
The comments of the President of Burundi were also denounced by the Burundian human rights organization “Iteka” which indicates that this type of comment endangers LGBT+ people and creates a harmful environment to the exercise of their human rights in particular, the right to life, the right to privacy, the right to access health care and the right to non-discrimination.
For its part, Human Rights Watch believes that President Evariste Ndayishimiye stokes among LGBT people and his comments risk fueling violence an discrimination.
Before the media release last December, President Evariste Ndayishimiye had already called on Burundians to “curse homosexuals” which he described as a curse in a Nation Prayer Breakfast organized by the Burundian parliament on March 1, 2023.
Homosexuality as a threat to national security
Classified in the category of social threats, homosexuality is considered a threat to national security in Burundi in the same way as drug consumption, sexual violence and cultural alienation in the National Security Strategy.
In addition to the Burundian penal code which is considered the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, members of the LGBT community are among the categories most threatened by HIV/AIDS in Burundi.
According to the recent report from the Global Fund, which awarded Burundi a combined HIV/tuberculosis grant of US$45 million for the period 2021-2023, “human right barriers affect the quality of prevention activities in
many ways, including the limited number of places where key populations can access prevention services, as well as the lack of legal assistance”.
According to this report from September 2023, the HIV epidemic is concentrated among the three main key populations with higher prevalence among: men who have sex with men (5.96%), injectable drugs users (15.3%) and sex workers (30.9%).
In December 2021, the Burundian government presented the provisional report of a “national seroprevalence survey and monitoring of HIV behavior in Burundi among men who have sex with men” after having collaborated with “associations working in favor of Men who have Sex with Men”. In total, 611 Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) participated in the survey, including 246 in Bujumbura city, 110 in Gitega, 127 in the North and 128 in the South of the country. The survey also revealed that this population of Men who have Sex with Men was estimated at 6,452 in Bujumbura city. This survey, which benefited from the support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and UNAIDS, also specifies that the prevalence of HIV among Men who have Sex with Men is higher than among the general population in Burundi.
