Burundi Poverty

By Brookie Hollander and Anna Cichocki

Burundi is a small, isolated country located in the heart of Africa. It is surrounded by three other countries, Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since Burundi is landlocked, the only water source nearby is Lake Tanganyika, and there are almost no rivers. The country is one of the smallest countries in Africa (except for the various chains of islands), and the result of this is that almost nobody knows about the immense poverty problem it is dealing with.  



Burundi is still recovering from a 12 year civil war that began in 1993 over an ethnic problem between two tribes of Burundi, the Hutu and the Tutsi. The war just ended in 2005, and the country is struggling to fix the various problems the war created. However, even before the war there were very limited resources in the country. The damage from the war combined with the lack of resources, caused the people of Burundi to be forced into poverty and lead unhealthy and unjust lives. Currently, 70% of Burundians live in poverty and are severely malnourished.

The poverty situation in Burundi violates the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights Article #25. To learn more about the UDHR, click on the UDHR tab at the top of the website.