A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced people. Usually, refugees seek asylum after they have escaped war in their home countries, but some camps also house environmental and economic migrants. Camps with over a hundred thousand people are common, but as of 2012, the average-sized camp housed around 11,400. They are usually built and run by a government, the United Nations, international organizations, or non-governmental organization. Unofficial refugee camps, such as Idomeni in Greece or the Calais jungle in France, are where refugees are largely left without the support of governments or international organizations.
The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party elections in the country since its independence from Belgium in 1962, and is seen as formally ending with the swearing-in of President Pierre Nkurunziza in August 2005. Children were widely used by both sides in the war. The estimated death toll stands at 300,000.
The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Many of the refugees were Hutu fleeing the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which had gained control of the country at the end of the genocide. However, the humanitarian relief effort was vastly compromised by the presence among the refugees of many of the Interahamwe and government officials who carried out the genocide, who used the refugee camps as bases to launch attacks against the new government led by Paul Kagame. The camps in Zaire became particularly politicized and militarized. The knowledge that humanitarian aid was being diverted to further the aims of the genocidaires led many humanitarian organizations to withdraw their assistance. The conflict escalated until the start of the First Congo War in 1996, when RPF-supported rebels invaded Zaire and sought to repatriate the refugees.
Ngara District is one of the eight districts of the Kagera Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by Karagwe District, to the east by Biharamulo District, to the south by the Kigoma Region, to the northeast by Muleba District and to the west by the countries of Rwanda and Burundi.
Marguerite (Maggie) Barankitse is a Burundian humanitarian activist who works to improve the welfare of children and challenge ethnic discrimination in Burundi. After rescuing 25 children from a massacre, she was forced to witness the conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi in her country in 1993. She established Maison Shalom, a shelter that provided access to healthcare, education, and culture to over 20,000 orphan children in need. Because she protested against a third term for President Pierre Nkurunziza, she lives in exile.
The National Forces of Liberation is a political party and former rebel group in Burundi. An ethnic Hutu group, the party was previously known as the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People and adhered to a radical Hutu Power ideology, but since the mid- to late-2000s has moderated its stance and cooperated with the Tutsi-supported Union for National Progress party in opposition to the rule of Pierre Nkurunziza and the CNDD-FDD.
Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA) is a non-governmental organization that provides relief services to countries in Africa. It was founded by Dr. David Zawde in 1994 in response to the Rwandan genocide.
Prostitution in Burundi is illegal but is commonplace and on the rise. Prostitution is prevalent in all areas of the country, and especially in the largest city, Bujumbura, and prior to the security crisis in 2015, the tourist areas around Lake Tanganyika. UNAIDS estimate there are 51,000 prostitutes in Burundi. Many women have turned to prostitution due to poverty.
On 25 April 2015, the ruling political party in Burundi, the National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD), announced that the incumbent President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, would run for a third term in the 2015 presidential election. The announcement sparked protests by those opposed to Nkurunziza seeking a third term in office.
Ibrahim Al Hussein is a Syrian Paralympic swimmer who represented the Independent Paralympic Athletes Team at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and resides in Greece. He competed in the S9 50 m and 100 m freestyle events and served as a flag bearer at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Parade of Nations. He is a co-recipient of the 2016 Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award.
Princess Sarah Zeid is a Jordanian-American humanitarian and maternal and newborn health activist. Through her marriage to Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad al-Hussein, she is a Jordanian princess and a member of the House of Hashem. Her husband is the heir apparent to the pretender of the abolished throne of Iraq.
UniRef – University for Refugees – is a humanitarian non-governmental organization, specialized in delivering higher education for refugees, and headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland). In partnership with world-class universities and international humanitarian organizations, UniRef offers university courses to refugees and to people from the host community facing financial difficulties. In order to propose a training adapted to the specific living context of the community and in line with the demands from the local labor market, this NGO provides its own courses in cooperation with its partners.
Ileana Rodriguez is a Cuban-born American Paralympic swimmer and sports administrator. She led the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics as the Chef de Mission. She was to have been the IPC flag bearer but Abbas Karimi and Alia Issa were subsequently named as the two flag bearers.
Parfait Hakizimana is a Burundian parataekwondo practitioner who currently resides in Rwanda. He will represent the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in the under 61 kg category.
Kamanyola is one of the groupements (groupings) within the Ngweshe Chiefdom of the Walungu Territory. It is located in the Ruzizi Plain in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), sharing a border with Rwanda and Burundi. Kamanyola stands at a height of 901 meters and is closely situated to the suburb of Mwaro and the village of Mubombo.
Nduta Refugee Camp is a refugee camp situated in the north-western region of Tanzania. It was established in 2015 to provide shelter and support to Burundian refugees who had fled their country due to political instability and violence. Located in the Kibondo District of the Kigoma Region, Nduta Refugee Camp is one of the three refugee camps in the area that currently house a population of over 320,000 refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Relations between Burundi and Rwanda have existed for at least as long as the states themselves. Before contact with Europeans, Rwanda and Burundi were kingdoms competing to gain control over nearby territory. In the 1880s, the two kingdoms were placed under colonial authority, first by Germany, and then by Belgium after 1919.
Mtendeli Refugee Camp is a refugee camp located in the Kakonko District of Kigoma Region, Tanzania.
The Katumba Refugee Camp is a refugee camp in Tanzania. It is located in the Kasulu District of the Kigoma Region in western Tanzania. Established in 1972 to provide refuge for Burundian citizens escaping mass extermination by the Burundi government against its Hutu citizens during Burundian Civil War, is one of the oldest and largest refugee camps in Africa.
Mishamo Refugee Camp is a refugee camp situated in the Northwestern region of Kigoma, Tanzania. Initially established in an unofficial capacity during the early 1970s, it served as a haven for Burundian refugees escaping the first Burundian genocide. It is one of the biggest refugee camps in Africa spanning an expansive area, the camp fosters an agriculturally-driven way of life for many of its inhabitants.
Rwanda