An anti-trafficking watchdog has warned that Burundi’s long school holidays remain a period of heightened risk for child trafficking after citing a 2025 court case in which 20 people were convicted for attempting to traffic 118 children to neighbouring Tanzania.
The warning was issued Thursday by the National Observatory for the Fight Against Transnational Crime (ONLCT) “Where Is Your Brother?” to mark the U.N.’s International Day Against Trafficking in Persons, observed annually on July 30.
The organisation said it was concerned that the international observance “always falls at a time when Burundian children are on their long school holidays,” which it described as a period that “facilitates child traffickers in easily recruiting them,” particularly for movement to Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.
According to the ONLCT, the High Court of Rutana convicted 20 traffickers in 2025 after they were caught in the act of attempting to traffic 118 children to Tanzania during the school holiday period. The organization said the victims included 29 children trafficked in July 2025 and another 89 in August.
Burundi Times has not independently verified the Rutana court judgment or the details surrounding the convictions. The communiqué did not specify the sentences imposed, the ages of the victims, or whether all of the children were rescued and returned to their families.
The ONLCT said trafficked children are allegedly recruited for “economic and sexual exploitation,” adding that traffickers may also target victims for other serious forms of abuse. Burundi Times has not independently verified allegations relating to organ trafficking contained in the communiqué.
The watchdog’s warning aligns with broader international assessments of human trafficking in the region. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report, Burundi remains a source country for victims of labor and sex trafficking both within the country and abroad. The report says Burundian victims have been identified in neighboring East African countries, including Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, as well as in several Gulf states. International agencies have consistently warned that children and young people seeking economic opportunities are among the groups most vulnerable to exploitation by trafficking networks.
The warning also comes as Burundi continues to experience increasing labor migration among young people seeking employment overseas. Earlier reporting by Burundi Times documented how growing numbers of Burundians have been traveling toward the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries, often relying on private recruitment agents or brokers to secure employment. While many workers migrate legally through licensed recruitment channels, migration experts caution that irregular migration routes and deceptive recruiters can expose migrants to forced labor, exploitation and human trafficking.
The ONLCT urged parents, local leaders and administrative authorities to remain vigilant throughout the holiday period.
It called on communities “to immediately report any disappearance or suspicious recruitment of children to local authorities or the Police,” while encouraging institutions to establish “an early warning system to rapidly report any disappearance of a child at the village level.”
The organization also appealed for tighter security at transport hubs and border crossings, calling for authorities “to intensify vigilance and controls, particularly at market parking areas, bus stations, major transport routes and border posts during the school holidays.”
It further urged law enforcement agencies to pursue “recruiters, perpetrators and accomplices involved in human trafficking, particularly child trafficking, so that they are punished in accordance with the law.”
Human trafficking remains a regional challenge across East Africa, where criminal networks exploit economic hardship, unemployment and promises of better opportunities abroad. International organisations, including the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Organisation for Migration, have repeatedly called for stronger cross-border cooperation, improved victim identification and greater public awareness to prevent trafficking, especially among children and young migrants.
No immediate response to Thursday’s communiqué had been issued by Burundi’s government.
