BUJUMBURA, April 3rd (ABP) – The legal representative of the Association Ntabariza-SPF(which stands in solidarity with prisoners’ families and their loved ones), Jean Marie Nshimirimana, held a press conference in Bujumbura on Wednesday 2 April 2025.
During that press conference, he announced the association’s project to offer jobs to unemployed beneficiaries of presidential pardons. He said that that project had been developed with the aim of preventing delinquency and contributing to the achievement of the national vision.
According to Nshimirimana, 300 beneficiaries of the presidential pardon, currently unemployed, from the northern provinces of the country (Ngozi, Kayanza, Muyinga, Kirundo), will begin to benefit from those jobs from 7 April 2025, according to their skills.
He took the opportunity to invite companies and organisations with jobs to contact the Ntabariza association in order to provide them with employees. He also asked the Ministry of Justice to identify prisoners who had committed less serious offences and to refer them to the Ntabariza association to find them jobs, in the interests of the country and the people concerned.
He encouraged the beneficiaries of the presidential pardon not to underestimate the jobs on offer, stressing that it is through self-development that they will escape the social stigma attached to their prison past. After the northern provinces, the project will gradually be extended to the country’s other provinces, added Nshimirimana.
He deplored certain persistent challenges in the management and respect of prisoners’ rights. He mentioned prison overcrowding and the situation of those who have been acquitted by the courts but remain in prison.
He also took the opportunity to thank the Independent National Commission for Human Rights (CNIDH) for its efforts, which have enabled Burundi to maintain its A status.