Gay Travel Advisory

Burundi

Law No. 1/05 from 22 April 2009

Sources
  1. Text of the law is available at: https://www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/fr/bi/bi009fr.pdf

Legal Code Text

Article 567 - “Whoever has sexual relations with someone of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment for three months to two years and a fine of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand francs or one of those penalties.”

Sources
  1. Original text: ”Quiconque fait des relations sexuelles avec la personne de même sexe est puni d’une servitude pénale de trois mois à deux ans et d’une amende de cinquante mille francs à cent mille francs ou d’une de ces peines seulement.”

ILGA Analysis & Notes

Burundi received 11 direct recommendations in its 2nd UPR in 2015 regarding sexual orientation, the majority regarding decriminalisation, to which the delegation is recorded as saying: “With regard to discrimination against homosexuals, the delegation acknowledged that the Criminal Code of 2009 still punished homosexuality. That situation was in line with the country’s customs and values, and the delegation asked for the international community’s understanding while Burundian society prepared for a change in mentality. The head of the delegation did emphasise, however, that he would raise the issue with the Government.” Burundi’s 3rd UPR will be in October 2017. A Shadow Report to the Human Rights Committee (HRCee) that oversees the ICPPR describes the repressive conditions under which LGBT people live in Burundi. In November 2014, the HRCee unambiguously stated that Burundi, “… should decriminalise homosexuality; amend the ministerial order of the Minister of Basic Education in order to forestall its discriminatory application to young homosexuals; remove any de jure or de facto obstacle to or any restriction on the establishment of associations by homosexuals; and take all necessary steps to provide efective protection for homosexuals from threats to their physical integrity and from discrimination of any kind”. In December 2014, the Committee Against Torture (CAT) spoke directly to discrimination based on SOGI, referring to Article 16 of the Convention: “[t]he State party should decriminalize homosexuality and take all necessary measures to efectively protect homosexuals from threats and any form of violence […]: and … investigate any cases involving violations of their physical integrity”. In relation to Burundi’s presence at United Nations human rights mechanisms in the recent past, Burundi was examined by CESCR (the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) in October 2015, which “recommends that the State party repeal all provisions that could lead to the discrimination, prosecution or punishment of individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity and that it take all appropriate steps to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals may exercise all the rights enshrined in the Covenant”. The legal and social situation of LGBT people in Burundi is captured in a 2016 report produced by the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative.

Continued to criminalise under Article 567 of the Penal Code (2009). In April 2023, 24 people attending an HIV-related workshop in Gitega were detained and charged with 'homosexual practices.' President Evariste Ndayishimiye made widely condemned public calls in Dec. 2023 for gay people to be stoned. No change to the underlying law.