Amissi Hakizimana
Amissi Hakizimana is first secretary of SOBUGEA’s workers union which brings together employees of SOBUGEA “Société Burundaise de gestion des entrepôts et assistance des avions en escale à l’Aéroport de Bujumbura” the national company offering cargo and other airport handling services.
Following violence in the 1990s, Burundi had enjoyed a decade of relative political stability and its civil society was thought to be among the most vibrant in the African Great Lakes region. In 2015, Burundi entered into a period of political violence and civil unrest when President Pierre Nkurunziza refused to step down and continued with elections that many saw as fraudulent. This led to mass human rights violations as the government targeted anyone considered to be opposition. Since then, human rights defenders have been subjected to threats, violence, arbitrary detention, assassination attempts and enforced disappearances.
