The health of young people and their sexual and reproductive health rights is one of the five priority areas of the action plans for the decade of youth, the sexual aspect of which has worried more than one MP. This was on the sidelines of the analysis of the bill on the ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the African Youth Charter adopted in Banjul, Gambia, on July 2nd, 2006, which was unanimously adopted during the plenary session of Thursday October 27, 2022.
Article 13 of the charter in its paragraph 4 alerted the elected representatives of the people. The States Parties to this Charter shall respond appropriately for the full realization of the rights and shall undertake, in particular, strictly appropriate sensitization that takes into account sexuality in accordance with the age group as well as responsible parenting. "Will customs and traditions not be compromised?”- worried the MPs.

According to the charter, a young person is one whose age is between 15 and 35 years, said the Minister of National Education and Scientific Research, who was acting in place of the Minister of East African Community Affairs, Youth, Sports and Culture, within the framework of the unity of the State. In the philosophy of the charter, Dr François Havyarimana added that the development of each country shall always take into account its customs.
Going back to the history of the African Youth Charter creation, the Government member recalled that Africa has the youngest population in the world with over 400 million young people. Such a young population requires increased investment in economic and social development factors in order to improve the development rate of African countries.

Regarding the usefulness of the charter, Dr François Havyarimana noted by illustrating Article 3 which states that "every young person has the right to leave any country, including his own, and return freely". This shows that once the African Youth Charter is ratified, the mobility of young Burundians, especially those looking for employment and education opportunities in other African countries complying with this charter, will be easy.

However, this argument did not reassure the plenary at all, as the competition is more likely to enhance the contest of the Burundian market by other national foreigners, while mentioning that the level required for Burundian pupils and/or students is not satisfactory.

The Government envoy admitted that the learning of languages has declined, but added that this does not mean that there aren’t pupils who master French and English. In order to overcome this challenge, the General Conference on Education recommended the introduction of a professorship system at Ecofo level.

Moreover, technology does not require speaking. He gave an example of the Swahili-speaking mechanics of Buyenzi whose performance is irrefutable.
The current national youth policy in Burundi is for 2016-2020. If the African Youth Charter is ratified, he hoped, the process of developing the new national youth policy will follow and will abide by all legislative procedures.