Access to justice, including legal advice and support from communal courts, has been raised as one of the major gaps and according to protection monitoring results in 2020, 24% of returnees interviewed 3 months after return responded that there are no local legal courts in their return areas. The most pressing protection needs affecting returnees identified in 2020 are lack of access to administrative and national documentation procedures. On average, 33.5% of returnees in 2020 reported not having access to identification documents and 28% of returnees surveyed during consecutive protection monitoring visits also declared not being in possession of IDs. It is reported to be especially difficult to obtain birth certificates for children. 52% of households reported that their children do not have birth certificates upon arrival and 54% of returnee households report their children not having any birth certificates after return. Most refugee returnee children hold a notification of birth issued by health partners in Tanzania. However, this birth notification does not have the same legal standing as a birth certificate under either Tanzanian or Burundian law. Lack of resources and the limited presence of national authorities at the transit centres to provide national identification documents immediately upon return has a significant impact and this delayed response severely hampers access to basic social services including health and education. Therefore, returnee families are exposed to additional protection risks including the risk of statelessness.
Infrastructure linked to access to basic services are lacking in the reintegration programme and affect the conditions and sustainability of reintegration in host communities. These are health centres, COVID-19 treatment centres, housing, and schools.