Burundi: Access to water is a human right

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/379/48640water.jpgIf women had control over water as resource "they would be better placed to manage its use, especially in agriculture, which is the principal economic activity in Burundi, and is controlled by women." Concilie Gahungere looks at the access to water in Burundi in relation to gender.
====

Mrs Immaculee S. lives in Gikungu Rural location, which falls in the urban Gihosha district. She is 65 and lives alone with no children or domestic help. Even though she lives close to a residential area, she has no access to clean water. Everyday, she takes a 10-litre jerrican, and goes off in search of water. With her jerrican, she begs her neighborhood “bosses” for a little water. With an air of resignation, she describes how her neighbors receive her: “sometimes they open their big gates, and other times they look at us through the gate, without opening it”. She says the administration must look into providing clean water for the poor and the old. “We are old and poor, we neither have the money to pay for water, nor do we have young children to look after us”, she laments.

Mrs. Immaculee is one of many Burundian women without access to clean water. Article 15 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa stipulates under the right to food security, that states must ensure women’s access to adequate and safe nutrition. In this regards, it sets in to necessary mechanisms to:

- provide women with access to clean drinking water, sources of domestic fuel, land, and the means of producing nutritious food;

- establish adequate systems of supply and storage to ensure food security.

Mrs Odette Kayitesi is the former minister for environment. In her view, the Burundian woman’s access to clean water is a critical issue that has been debated for a long time and is still not resolved. The access water, Burundian women have to travel long distances. Often, she covers these huge distances to obtain water that is, in the final analysis, not fit for drinking. She is sometimes forced to draw water from streams for all her home needs, including drinking.

Mrs. Kayitesi laments that the lack of water points within easy access has grave hygiene consequences for the family, both in terms of the transmission of disease, and the future of the girl child. Young girls are forced to abandon the education in order to help their mothers seek out water for household use.

In Burundi, some regions have very few water sources or catchment areas. Even where there is water, the difficulty lies in making it easily accessible. This is the case in the North, the East and the North-Eastern regions. On the other hand, the central plateaus, and the Munirwa regions have sufficient water supply.

WATER ISSUES IN THE CITY

Women living in the city are not spared either when it comes to lack of clean drinking water, states Kayitesi. Some women are forced to draw water from the rivers that criss-cross Bujumbura, such as the Ntahangwa and the Rusizi. In Kayitesi’s view, there is a problem of lack of sensitization, because too many women are still underestimate the importance of clean drinking water. Another problem is that many women in poor neighborhoods do not have the resources to obtain clean drinking water. The cost of living on Burundi is very high, and more so for the poor.

WOMEN AND WATER MANAGEMENT

Our sources indicate that based on the available data, the percentage of the population with access to clean drinking water is very low. During the recent African Water Week held in Tunis, it was noted that only a small percentage of the population have access to clean drinking water and that countries have to intensify efforts by increasing drilling for clean water. Governments have been asked to meet new targets in the 2020-2025 period.

Kayitesi calls on citizens to maintain water point, noting that the population still does not take enough responsibility in protecting what already exists in the interests of sustainability.

Solange Habonimana, former chairperson of CAFOB (Collectif des Associations et ONG féminines du Burundi), agrees that Burundian women have inadequate access to water. In cases where women have access, they have no control or decision-making power. If women had decisive control over the resource, she would be better placed to manage its use, especially in agriculture, which is the principal economic activity in Burundi, and is controlled by women.

*Concilie Gahungere is the coordinator of CAFOB (Collectif des Associations et ONG féminines du Burundi). This article was translated from French by Joshua Ogada.

*Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/