Some 3.9 million people across several regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been displaced from their homes, and amid growing violence and unrest, the United Nations refugee agency on 24 October warned that the number could rise even further.
A family flee violence in Kamonia, Kasai province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: UNHCR/John Wessels
According to a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over the last three months alone, more than 428,000 people have been displaced.
Expressing shock and sadness over the violent death of numerous Burundian nationals – among them likely refugees and asylum seekers – in Kamanyola town, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations refugee agency called for an investigation into the incident.
Burundian refugees prepare food over an open flame at a settlement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (File) Photo: UNICEF/Seck
According to initial reports more than 30 have been killed and over100 injured, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 16 September 2017said* in a news release.
4 August 2017 – Violence in the Kasai provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) appears to be taking on an increasingly disturbing ethnic dimension, a United Nations human rights wing has warned, citing testimonies that Government forces have led ethnicity-based attacks.
A former site for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near Kalemie, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was burned down when it was attacked by a militia group in early July. Credit: OCHA/Ivo Brandau
“Survivors have spoken of hearing the screams of people being burned alive, of seeing loved ones chased and cut down, of themselves fleeing in terror. Such bloodletting is all the more horrifying because we found indications that people are increasingly being targeted because of their ethnic group,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Rafad Al Hussein in a news release from his Office (OHCHR).
19 April 2017 – Raising alarm over increasing reports of serious human rights violations in the Kasai Central and Kasai Oriental provinces of Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations human rights chief underscored that the scale and nature of the allegations could warrant an investigation by an international mechanism, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC).
A UN team in the town of Tshimbulu in Kasai Central province, DRC, where 15 of the mass graves were found. (File) Photo: MONUSCO/Biliaminou Alao
According the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), between 5-7 April, a team of UN human rights and police officials found 17 further mass graves in the Kasai Central province, which had been the location of clashes between security forces and the Kamuina Nsapu, a local militia.
‘Experts estimate that 10-30 per cent of this illegal trade (around US$ 72-426 million per annum) goes to transnational organized criminal networks based outside eastern DR Congo.’
Photo by MONUSCO | Source: UNEP
Nairobi, 16 April 2015 — Organized crime and the illegal trade in natural resources continues to increasingly fuel the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners.*
The Government of DRC, supported by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) – the largest UN peacekeeping mission with 20,000 uniformed personnel – is confronting not only a political insurgency but an increasing number of illegal operations conducted by militarized criminal groups with transnational links involved in large-scale smuggling and laundering of natural resources.
Every year gold, minerals, timber, charcoal and wildlife products such as ivory, valued between US$ 0.7-1.3 billion annually, are exploited and smuggled illegally out of the conflict zone and surrounding areas in eastern DRC.
The recruitment and use of children in armed forces is a violation of international law, and children who are recruited and forced to fight and kill suffer profound physical and psychological damage. Children not Soldiers, launched in 2014 by Leila Zerrougui, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, and UNICEF, is a campaign to make all government armed forces child-free by 2016.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, capoeira, a Brazilian martial arts form, has had a positive impact in helping children demobilized from armed forces to make the transition away from military life and reintegrate with their families and communities.
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, 11 February 2015– “Aie! Aie! Isso!” Ninja gives the rally cry, and dozens of children rush forward at the instructor’s call. All of them already have their abadá, the white trousers of capoeira players. The boys are between 12 and 17, and their smiles show their enthusiasm.
With the deadline for the unconditional surrender of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) having passed on 2 January, and no significant additional surrenders of FDLR combatants registered since June, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) is working to address the situation, a UN spokesperson on 5 January 2015 said*
A MONUSCO attack helicopter provides aerial protection for a convoy carrying FDLR ex-combatants from Kanyabayonga transit camp, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Photo: MONUSCO/Force
He said the Mission would work with regional and international stakeholders including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), which established the deadline for the FDLR’s surrender, as well as with national partners.
The United Nations on 17 November 2014 praised the end of an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as some of the world’s top football players, including Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Neymar Jr, announced they are joining the Organization’s fight to help raise global awareness in the fight against the deadly virus.
Ebola treatment centre outside an Ebola virus disease (EVD) case management centre run by Médecins Sans Frontières in the town of Guéckédou, Guinea. Photo: UNICEF/Suzanne Beukes
UN Humanitarian Coordinator Moustapha Soumaré praised the DRC authorities for their rapid and coordinated response, despite enormous logistical challenges, and paid tribute to the bravery of aid teams, in particular to the eight health workers who died in the early days of the outbreak.*
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) there had been 66 cases of Ebola reported in the DRC, including the health-care workers. In total, 49 deaths have been reported before authorities in that country declared the end of the outbreak, which is unrelated to the Ebola outbreak that originated in West Africa.
Iga-Barrier, (IRIN*) – There is no refuge from the blistering heat at this artisanal gold mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Any trees that might have provided shade have been consumed by the mine, which covers an area the size of five or six football fields.
Photo: Guy Oliver/IRIN. Artisanal gold miners form human chains to excavate near Iga-Barrière, about 25km east of Bunia
About a thousand people – men, women and some children – swarm across the open-cast mine near Iga-Barrière, about 25km east of Bunia, the administrative town of the Ituri Region.
The scene has all the trappings of a 19th century gold rush, apart from the hum of diesel generators powering pumps to drain water from the open shafts, while hawkers sell drinking water in translucent plastic bags.
By Alexandra Stenbock-Fermor and Jean-Jacques Soha in Bele, Democratic Republic of the Congo*
A simple yet effective hygiene initiative is helping refugees make their own handwashing devices to fight COVID-19 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.| Español | Français
10 June 2020 (UNHCR)* — A plastic jerrycan filled with water rests snugly between the trunks of a small tree in front of Ferida’s shelter in Bele settlement, in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Haut Uele Province.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 