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.
“Decades of conflict and the resulting humanitarian emergency have already exhausted and traumatized millions of civilians”, the humanitarian leaders said. “Ensuring that sufficient aid reaches civilians in need swiftly and without impediment is critical.”
The lack of resources means millions of people are left without the life-saving assistance they need.
In recent months alone, more than 700,000 civilians have been forced to flee their homes, bringing the total number of internally displaced people to 7.2 million - an all-time high. Gender-based violence (GBV) in the country has risen to unprecedented levels.
More than 25 million people - a quarter of the DRC's population - continue to face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity, making it one of the world's largest food crises. Over 1.1 million children are acutely malnourished. 250,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and require urgent medical attention.
Cholera and measles are also spreading rapidly as the health sector continues to deteriorate. Climate extremes, exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon, pose a further threat to already vulnerable families.
Tuesday's statement was issued by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the UN system's highest level humanitarian coordination forum, which brings together the heads of 20 UN and non-UN agencies and is led by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Leaders of the group who issued the statement included the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Food Programme (WFP), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), as well as CARE International, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, representing the world's humanitarian NGOs.
The IASC signatories called for increased support for the Congolese people, especially women and girls. This includes additional funding for humanitarian operations: The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the DRC, which calls for $2.6 billion, is only 16 percent funded to date.
The gap between rapidly growing needs and sufficient resources means that millions of people are going without the life-saving assistance they need.
“This lack of resources is compounding the crisis by forcing humanitarian organizations to curb their assistance, with women and girls paying a devastatingly high price. Minimal protection and security in crowded displacement camps means many are forced to exchange sex for survival and support for their families,” the humanitarian leaders said.
"When they [IDPs] venture outside to collect firewood, water or for work, they are also exposed to appalling levels of sexual violence," they noted.
Gender-based violence has soared to unprecedented levels, with a spike in recorded cases between 2022 and 2023. Stigma and fear of retribution prevent many survivors from coming forward. In addition to sexual violence, children face other threats, including abduction, killing, maiming, and recruitment by armed groups.
In 2023, in the eastern province of North Kivu alone, there were 50,159 reported cases of gender-based violence, more than half of which were rapes; 90 percent of these victims were women and girls, while 37 percent were children.
“Perpetrators of human rights violations must be held accountable for their crimes. Under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected,” the statement said.
The IASC said bringing an end to the escalating humanitarian crisis in the DRC requires addressing its root causes: conflict, the exploitation of natural resources, illicit financial flows, prevailing gender inequality and development deficits.
“We must step up our support to the Congolese people, including to women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this conflict, as they work to rebuild their lives and livelihoods and return to their homes”, the IASC statement said.
"The international community must mobilize additional resources for the humanitarian response and support for civil society organizations – as well as the political will to end the violence once and for all."
The humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is currently deteriorating dramatically as the ongoing violence in the eastern part of the country reaches devastating levels. Two years of conflict in North Kivu province 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 persons (IDPs) in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.
Cyclical violence perpetrated by armed groups and subsequent displacement affects millions of vulnerable civilians. The eastern DRC is home to several armed groups, including the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group, the CODECO armed group, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, and Zaire militants.
In total, more than 8.3 million people in the country have been forced to flee their homes. Of these, 7.2 million are internally displaced, making the DRC the second-largest internal displacement crisis in the world after Sudan. Some 1.1 million Congolese have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
Fighting between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the M23 armed group escalated in March 2022. Since then, the violence has been concentrated in the Rutshuru and Masisi territories of North Kivu, and most of the displaced people have fled to the Nyiragongo territory.
Protracted armed violence perpetrated by non-state armed groups continues to exacerbate humanitarian needs and cause large-scale displacement, including people forced to flee as a result of the resumption of hostilities between M23 and FARDC.
Since October 2023, violent clashes between members of the M23, FARDC and coalitions of armed groups in North Kivu have again intensified, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
While most attention is focused on the deteriorating situation in North Kivu province, the humanitarian situation in Ituri province is becoming increasingly critical.
In Ituri, in parallel with intercommunal clashes between the CODECO and Zaire armed groups, the ADF armed group has intensified its attacks against the civilian population, resulting in numerous gross violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law. As of April 2024, approximately 1.8 million people were displaced in Ituri province.
Humanitarian actors continue to provide humanitarian assistance, including food, health care, protection services, water and sanitation, and essential household items. But conditions are dire as the growing need for shelter, sanitation and livelihoods outstrips available resources.
The UN estimates that 25.4 million people - including an estimated 14.9 million children - are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024. In the three eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, some 8 million women, men and children are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
Last month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent action and increased funding to address "the protracted and largely neglected humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo".
Further information
Full text: Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Crushing levels of violence, displacement fuel unprecedented civilian suffering, statement, IASC, published April 30, 2024
https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-democratic-republic-congo-crushing-levels