Kayanza province, Gaheta. Carrying supplies home after a food distribution.©ICRC/bi-n-00074-10

The organization currently runs its activities from its delegation in Bujumbura and its two sub-delegations in Gitega and Ngozi. It works in close collaboration with the Burundi Red Cross and can rely on its support, particularly in emergencies.

In the protection field, the ICRC focuses on ensuring that both detention conditions and the treatment detainees receive are satisfactory and that their judicial guarantees are honoured. Through the Red Cross message service the organization provides an opportunity for Burundian refugees in neighbouring countries to re-establish contact with their families and/or maintain family links. Reuniting unaccompanied children with their families is a priority.

Aid programmes are geared primarily to improving the population’s drinking water supply in areas least equipped with infrastructures. In the medical field, the ICRC endeavours to strengthen the capacities of the two referral hospitals and to ensure that the civilian and military victims of violence receive appropriate medical care.

The organization works in collaboration with the defence and security forces with a view to establishing instruction in international humanitarian law in all ranks and also supports the teaching of that law in universities and secondary schools.

Presence (2009): 146 staff, including 19 expatriates