Migration in Burundi: History, Current Trends and Future - MGSoG ...

with political dynamics might not give much space for migration and development policy
as a priority in the political agenda. In line with the ongoing debates about migration and
development, however, the Burundian government has recognized the developmental
potential of migration especially via the impact of remittances (de Bruyn and Wets, 2006);
despite this recognition, the state still lacks the necessary institutional frameworks and
adequate policy instruments 33 to harness diaspora potential. The Burundian government
has yet to come up with policies and institutional frameworks that would enable it to
develop synergies between migration and development agendas, and it has likewise failed
to examine how migration could be mainstreamed into its development policy agenda.
This would include focusing on partnerships and engaging with its diasporas in Europe
and North America in order to tap into their human capital in terms of expertise and
experiences gained while abroad. A few measures taken in recent times include the
establishment of a dedicated unit within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look into
diaspora matters 34 as well as the newly established government office for asylum, the
office National pour la Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides (ONPRA)(UNHCR, 2009)
6.1 Brain drain/ skill flow
As a result of conflict-induced outward migration, Burundi has lost significant numbers
of essential skilled manpower, hindering capacity building during the current transition
period. The majority of highly-skilled Burundians are found in Europe and North
America, which are the main top destination countries for Burundian migrants. 35 This
group is composed of doctors, nurses, scholars, teachers, and engineers whose flight has
left a huge human capital dent in Burundi. Burundian diaspora in the Netherlands,
especially the first generation migrants, were people in high positions in the civil service
or students before leaving the country. Within this group there are highly skilled
individuals such as doctors, nurses, teachers, and students at various levels, which shows
the heavy loss and likely impact of brain drain in Burundi 36 . In 2000 the rate of tertiary
educated Burundi migrants was 19.9%, (Ratha and Xu, 2008), of which 6.5% are doctors
and 77.9% nurses. Other estimates indicate that about 10,095 highly-skilled Burundians
http://consensus.fsu.edu/academic_directory/2004casestudies/HaighWageRwandaCaseStudy.pdf
Accessed 1/12/1009
33
Interview with BWPD, and Stichting Tabarana, November 2009
34 Interview with BIA, October 2009, and Stichting Tabarana, November, 2009, (although there is still no
documental proof of this imitative)
35
Aderanti Adepoju, “Reporting from Lagos” in the Global Issues Observatory of The World Paper on Line
(The World Times), 1 March 2002.
36 For a detailed analysis, see Lemarchand and Martin (1974)
42