Country: Burundi

Group: Hutu

Date Finalized: 9/26/2022

Team: Jacob Kebe (lead), Vianney Mancilla, Juwairiah Afridi, Esha Kubavat, Madison Shultz,

Content Warning:

Approximate Time Period: 1926-1931,1999-2000

The Hutu people of Burundi comprise the ethnic majority of the country, and together with the Hutu in Rwanda, number about 9.5 million (Britannica, n.d.). Until the later half of the twentieth century, the Hutu were subject to Tutsi rule in a feudal relationship that persisted even during the Belgian occupation of the country starting in 1926 (Blouin, 2013). The Belgian occupation is significant because the Belgian authorities encouraged the use of slave labor to increase coffee production. They encouraged the local Tutsi rulers to enslave the Hutu as laborers on the plantations, where they were subjected to cruel conditions, such as being beaten, amputated, and killed as punishment. As many as 600 Hutu were enslaved from 1926 to 1931 under Tutsi rule (Blouin, 2013). While this enslavement ended well before Burundian independence in 1962, the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi only worsened as they both vied for power over the country for the remainder of the 1900s. One pertinent example of this tension occurred during Tutsi governance of the country in 1999, when the Tutsi-dominant state forced Hutu into regroupment camps where they were relocated from their homes and forced into labor under inhumane conditions (Human Rights Watch, 1999). They were forced to build their own shelters, essentially building the camp themselves without designated supplies or materials provided. The Tutsi soldiers recruited children from the camps to become spies and child soldiers as well. Humanitarian efforts eventually encouraged the government to end the camps. Today, ethnic relations are still greatly affected by the attitudes of the two ethnicities toward each other.

Data Quality: 3/3 there is an above adequate amount of relevant information on this issue available.

Sources

  1. Blouin, A. (2013). Culture and Contracts: The Historical Legacy of Forced Labour. University of Warwick, 1-3. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://events.barcelonagse.eu/live/files/82-blouin#:~:text=labour%2C%20but%20the%2 0same%20traditional,to%20Hutu%20than%20to%20Tutsi.
  2. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Hutu. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hutu
  3. Human Rights Watch. (1999, December 12). Human Rights Watch Interview. Burundi: Emptying the hills – summary. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/burundi2/Bur008.htm