Burundi: Country Technical Note on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues

The Twa “Pygmy” of the Republic of Burundi are a small minority of around 80,000 people that self-identify as indigenous and are considered as such by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the UN system.

Burundi’s 2005 Constitution recognizes them as one of the three ethnic groups in the country and provides that they are represented (by co-option) in the parliament and the senate. This, however, does not mean that the state recognizes them as an indigenous people or that it acknowledges the concept of indigeneity and the specific rights attached to it.