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DRC: Spike of gender-based violence due to increased armed conflict, warns UNHCR

Resurgent violence between non-state armed groups and government forces across North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has displaced 2.8 million people since March 2022, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Friday.

Many of those uprooted have suffered severe human rights violation, especially forcibly displaced women and girls who have endured rape and sexual exploitation, UNHCR said.

“10,000 people who have been able to access gender-based violence services in North Kivu in the first quarter of this year, 66 per cent of them have been raped”, said Gillian Triggs, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, briefing journalists at the United Nations in Geneva. “This is a very significant number and many of those gender-based violations are reportedly perpetrated by men of these armed groups.”

This data was shared from the DRC Government by an inter-agency protection coordination network which operates as part of the Protection Cluster under UNHCR’s lead.

The UN refugee agency, however, beliefs that this reflects only the tip of the iceberg. Many survivors may be unable to reach life-saving gender-based violence (GBV) services or report abuse, out of fear of stigmatization by their communities or retaliation by perpetrators. Access to the displaced also remains a significant challenge both in terms of security and logistics. 

“The displaced community within the country is something staggering, it’s about 6.3 million, but it’s also shocking that 2.8 million have been displaced in the provinces that I mentioned: North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri since March last year,” said UNHCR’s Ms. Triggs.

As access to resources diminishes, dangers and risks spike, and women and girls are being driven to take greater risks to meet critical needs. Reports have been received of women and girls being sexually assaulted when collecting firewood and water.

According to Ms. Triggs, “this is probably one of the most neglected and severe humanitarian protection crises we have globally. It has sadly been left aside. It’s perhaps been protracted, and we are now calling at the UN Refugee agency for much greater attention to the severity of this protection crisis.”

Food insecurity and the lack of livelihood opportunities have also increased risks of exploitation and abuse of women and adolescent girls. Some women are being forced to resort to harmful coping mechanisms, including transactional sex in the spontaneous settlements around Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

“Women are not able to feed their families, they are not able to get livelihoods. And sadly, they are at risk of exploitation and abuse and ultimately resort to harmful coping mechanisms, transactional sex, in these spontaneous settlements,” said Ms. Triggs.

UNHCR and humanitarian actors are working to help mitigate and respond to these mounting risks. They provide humanitarian assistance, psychosocial care and shelter support and cooperate with local women-led organizations, which have been at the forefront of the crisis.

UNHCR reported that they have reached more than 9,000 people with GBV prevention and response interventions since the beginning of the year.

“We are calling on governments, we spoke to local mayors, we spoke to local governments, understanding of course, that for them it’s a security problem, they have to deal with the security but they’re very alert to this rise, massive rise, in brothels as a means of coping”, noted UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection. “But we also, of course, call for those responsible for these violations to be held to account.”

In total, more than 6.3 million people are internally displaced across the DRC exposed to staggering violence and making it one of the largest internal displacement crises worldwide. To date, UNHCR has received only 33 per cent of the $233 million required to address their urgent needs.

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DRC - Rising Violence Against Women And Girls - UNHCR

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