The Batwa will hold a seminar on human rights and democracy in Gitega, in central Burundi, from August 5 to 7. Organizers from advocacy group Action Batwa hope to bring together Batwa representatives from Gitega, Karusi and Mwaro provinces and other advocacy groups to discuss strategies for education programs and promoting greater political awareness among the Batwa. The goal is to enable them to make their voice heard in national political debate on the problems facing Burundi. The Batwa have traditionally been a hunter-gatherer society based in the forests of Burundi and Rwanda, but many Batwa have been forced to live in settlements as those forests have been systematically logged and cleared. They are now one of the most marginalized groups in the two countries, with little access to education, health care and employment.
