Urgent and concerted action is needed to stem the worsening humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo), a leading United Nations official warned today. With record levels of internal displacement, acute food insecurity and gender-based violence, the situation in DRC is one of the largest, most severe and most neglected humanitarian crises in the world.
A top United Nations official has expressed grave concern over the rapid expansion of the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), particularly in North Kivu province and its spillover into neighboring South Kivu province. Briefing the UN Security Council on Monday, Bintou Keita, the UN special envoy to the DRC, described the situation as "one of the most serious, complex and neglected humanitarian crises of our times."
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that halfway through 2024, only 18 percent - or US$8.8 billion - of the US$48.7 billion needed to help people in need around the world this year has been received. This is far less than at the same time last year, when there was already a massive shortfall. At the same time, more than 300 million people around the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
United Nations human rights chief Voker TĂĽrk has expressed dismay at the extent to which warring parties in many settings have overstepped the bounds of what is acceptable and legal, "trampling human rights at their core." Moreover, data collected by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shows that the number of civilian deaths in armed conflicts skyrocketed by 72 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.
In 2023, children living in situations of war and conflict experienced intolerable levels of violence, according to a new United Nations Secretary-General's report on children and armed conflict released this week. Children were recruited and used, including on the front lines, attacked in their homes, abducted on their way to school, their schools used for military purposes, their doctors targeted, and the horrific list goes on.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that forced displacement around the world has reached historic highs, driven by conflict, persecution, human rights abuses, the climate crisis and other events disturbing public order. In a report released on Thursday, UNHCR said the number of forcibly displaced people continued to rise this year and now stands at 120 million.
Acute food insecurity is set to increase in scale and severity in 18 hunger hotspots, a new United Nations early warning report said on Wednesday. The report highlights the urgent need for humanitarian assistance to prevent famine in Gaza and Sudan, and further deterioration of the devastating hunger crises in Haiti, Mali and South Sudan. It also warns of the lingering effects of El Niño and the looming threat of La Niña, bringing more climate extremes that could disrupt livelihoods.
For the second year in a row, Burkina Faso is the world's most neglected displacement crisis, according to a new report by the international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). According to the analysis released Monday, for the first time all three countries in the central Sahel - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - are among the top five most ignored crises. Other countries on this year's list are: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, South Sudan, and Sudan.
United Nations officials say they are deeply concerned by the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC). According to the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), clashes have resumed in several parts of the towns of Masisi, Rutshuru and Sake, while fighting is also moving closer to the town of Kanyabanyonga.
Conflict and violence have pushed the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) around the world to a record high of 75.9 million, with nearly half living in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). The report, released on Tuesday, found that conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) accounted for nearly two-thirds of new displacements due to violence.
The heads of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) warned in a rare joint statement on Tuesday that escalating conflict is driving record levels of displacement, hunger and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) said that without urgent international action, the situation threatens to push the DRC to the brink of catastrophe.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is sounding the alarm as the ongoing violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) reaches devastating levels. Two years of cyclical conflict in the North Kivu territories of Rutshuru and Masisi have forced more than 1.3 million people to flee their homes within the DRC, resulting in a total of 5.7 million internally displaced people in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today expressed grave concern about the deteriorating humanitarian situation civilians face in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). UNHCR said intensifying violence and conflict are taking a heavy toll on innocent civilians, including hundreds of thousands who are attempting to seek safety on the fringes of the conflict zones.
United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Martin Griffiths on Tuesday released US$100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support underfunded humanitarian emergencies in seven countries in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East. The crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan and Syria top the list, receiving $20 million each.
After a year of heightened insecurity and violence against civilians, the humanitarian situation in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is now at a tipping point, putting millions of civilians at risk, the international humanitarian organization Danish Refugee Council (DRC) warned on Friday. Since early February, a resurgence of fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 armed group has forced thousands of people from their homes.
United Nations agencies are deeply concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), particularly in the Masisi territory in the eastern province of North Kivu. Fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 armed group has displaced at least 135,000 people in different areas of the territory in the past two weeks, adding to an already dire situation in North Kivu.
International donor funding to alleviate hunger in the world's neediest countries plummeted in 2023, despite exacerbating global food insecurity reaching record highs, aid agencies warn. Humanitarian appeals for the 17 countries bearing the brunt of food insecurity suffered a staggering funding gap of 65 percent last year, up 23 percent from 2022, according to an analysis released this week by the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday urged all actors in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) to stop the violence that is taking an enormous toll on the civilian population, in particular children. Violent clashes between non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and government forces have forcibly displaced more than 450,000 people in the last six weeks in Rutshuru and Masisi territories in North Kivu Province.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots – comprising a total of 22 countries or territories including two regions – during the period from November 2023 to April 2024.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) says it is intensifying its efforts to address the complex and persistent humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) as the number of internally displaced people climbs to 6.95 million people across the country – the highest number recorded yet. Meanwhile, the massive displacement of civilians continues in the eastern DRC, following ongoing clashes between armed groups and the Congolese armed forces, leading to soaring humanitarian needs.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has announced Wednesday that the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights violations globally is estimated at more than 114 million at the end of September. According to a new UNHCR report, the main drivers of forced displacement in the first half of 2023 were: war in Ukraine and conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar; a combination of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia; and a prolonged humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the massive displacement of civilians continues in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) following recent clashes between armed groups. Since October 1, more than 145,000 people have fled the violence in Masisi and Rutshuru territories in North Kivu province, amid reports of pervasive human rights abuses.
Multiple over-lapping crises are impeding global efforts to tackle hunger, according to the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released Thursday, which shows that hunger levels are at “serious” or “alarming” levels in 43 countries. The report, which is jointly published by the international humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide and the German charity Welthungerhilfe, finds progress against hunger worldwide has largely stalled since 2015.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently calling for $629.7 million to sustain and scale up life-saving assistance in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). The UN agency reported Tuesday that conditions for those housed in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled conflict in the provinces of Ituri, North and South Kivu have become dire with the advent of the rainy season.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns violence against children in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has reached unprecedented levels. In a media briefing Friday, a UNICEF representative said there “are few worse places, if any, to be a child”, as more than 2.8 million girls and boys are bearing the brunt of the crisis in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu.
The ongoing political instability and armed conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC) have devastated food production and distribution systems, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned today that extreme levels of violence, hunger, and displacement receive “scant funding, media apathy, and neglect”, as recent months have brought a dramatic deterioration in the situation in the eastern part of the country.
The United Nations says that that armed group attacks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) have had an increasingly devastating impact on civilians, particularly in the eastern province of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. This week, the UN Joint Human Rights Office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (UNJHRO) released a report on human rights violations and abuses during the first half of the year.
116 aid workers were killed in 2022 in violent attacks, according to a report released Thursday by the research organization Humanitarian Outcomes. Last year, 444 humanitarian staff were victims of mayor attacks, the Aid Worker Security Report 2023 said. The most violent context for humanitarian workers continued to be South Sudan, followed by Mali, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Syria. Ukraine, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Haiti, and Burkina Faso were among the ten most dangerous places for humanitarian and development staff.
The European Union (EU) says it is gravely concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC), which recently led to an immediate system-wide scale-up by the United Nations of humanitarian operations in the eastern part of the country. In a statement Friday by its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, the EU also expressed outrage at the levels of violence and atrocities that continue to be perpetrated by armed groups with impunity against civilians.
As protracted and new armed conflicts have continued to rage in 2022, the number of children severely affected by hostilities has remained shockingly high at almost 19,000 children in 25 countries and the Lake Chad Basin region, according to a new UN report published Tuesday. While there were 27,180 grave violations verified overall, the conflicts with the highest numbers of children affected last year were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.
At least 46 people, half of them children, were killed early Monday in a militia attack on a camp for displaced people in the northeastern province of Ituri - the latest in a series of attacks by non-state armed groups on forcibly displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo, DRC). United Nations agencies have condemned the attack and expressed shock and horror at its brutality.
The humanitarian situation in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has reached devastating levels as cyclical violence perpetrated by armed groups and subsequent displacement continues to impact millions of vulnerable civilians, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned Saturday. The UN agency also expresses deep concern for the dire living conditions and human rights violations, including gender-based violence (GBV), faced by over 6.2 million internally displaced people (IDPs).
For the first time, Burkina Faso tops the list of the world’s ten most neglected displacement crises, according to a new report from the humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Releasing the analysis today, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) warned that redirection of aid and attention towards Ukraine has increased neglect of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Acute food insecurity is set to increase in magnitude and severity in 18 hunger hotspots comprising a total of 22 countries, a new UN early warning report has found. The analysis issued Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) calls for urgent humanitarian action to save lives and livelihoods and prevent starvation and death in countries where acute hunger is at a high risk of worsening from June to November 2023.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called for an urgent and significant scale-up of interventions and funding to respond to the escalating number of cases of sexual violence reported against children and women in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Gender-based violence (GBV) against girls and women in North Kivu province increased by 37 percent during the first three months of 2023 compared to the same period a year ago, UNICEF said on Thursday.
The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) around the world reached 71.1 million across 110 countries and territories at the end of 2022, a sharp increase of 20 percent from the previous year, according to a new report released Thursday. The Global Report on Internal Displacement 2023 (GRID 2023) by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) says rapidly escalating conflict and violence in countries such as Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and climate related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan forced millions of people to flee in the past year.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo), heavy flooding has impacted several villages in Kalehe territory, in South Kivu province since Thursday. According to the United Nations, at least 400 people lost their lives due to floods and mudslides triggered by excessive rainfall.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) is extremely concerned about the devastating consequences for displaced people of recurring attacks by armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) and is calling for humanitarian efforts to be urgently supported. With 7.5 million displaced women, children, and men, the situation in the DRC is one of the world’s most complex and protracted humanitarian crises.
The United Nations Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region has told the UN Security Council Wednesday that the fragile ceasefire between the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebels in North Kivu Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) seems to be holding. Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the security situation in neighboring Ituri Province remains extremely concerning due to ongoing attacks against civilians.
Renewed violent clashes involving non-state armed groups are exacerbating the hunger and protection crises in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), leaving 10 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the international humanitarian organizations Oxfam, CARE International and the Danish Refugee Council have warned in a joined statement Tuesday.
More than 56,000 Congolese refugees are receiving only half the food rations they need, due to a dwindling of funding for food needs in five camps in Burundi, according the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The refugees, most of them fleeing conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), require food assistance to nourish their families.
The United Nations envoy to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has warned the Security Council (UN-SC) on Wednesday that the security situation in the eastern part of the country has "deteriorated considerably" in recent months and that the humanitarian situation has become "increasingly dramatic". Following the briefing, the UN-SC adopted a presidential statement, strongly condemning the increase in attacks by the “Mouvement du 23 mars” (M23) rebel group in North Kivu province.
The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been displaced last week following clashes between the Congolese armed forces and the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group in North Kivu province in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Since early March, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group has reportedly killed at least 97 civilians in the Beni territory, also in North Kivu Province.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed great alarm today as violent clashes between non-state armed groups and government forces drive hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). In February alone, nearly 300,000 people fled across Rutshuru and Masisi territories in North Kivu Province, UNHCR said.
A ceasefire between the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group and the Congolese army has come into effect today in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). The truce in the eastern part of the country was agreed and announced on Friday after talks between the armed group and Angolan President and African Union mediator João Lourenço.
The United Nations report that fighting continues between the Congolese army and the “Mouvement du 23 mars” (M23) rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province. A United Nations spokesman also said Monday that at least 32 civilians have been killed in two separate attacks by other rebel groups in neighboring Ituri province.
East African head of states have renewed their call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). The call came at an extra-ordinary summit in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura on Saturday. The leaders of the East African Community (EAC) also demanded the withdrawal of all foreign armed troops.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed deep concern about the escalation of brutal attacks on civilians in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Attacks by non-state armed groups have killed hundreds of civilians and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in search of safety. In a press briefing today in Geneva, UNHCR also said that humanitarian actors and civilians should not be targeted in armed conflict and called on all warring parties to respect the civilian and humanitarian character of sites for displaced people.
Mass graves containing the bodies of 49 civilians have been discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DRC), according to the United Nations (UN). The graves were found in two villages in Ituri province in the eastern part of the country by peacekeepers of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), a United Nations spokesperson in New York said on Wednesday.
The European Union (EU) has firmly urged Rwanda to stop supporting the “Mouvement du 23 mars” (M23) armed group in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo). The call came Saturday as part of a statement by Josep Borrell, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, on behalf of the EU.
