UNICEF warned this Friday that child violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is at “unprecedented” levels and that rapes, murders, kidnappings and the recruitment of child soldiers “are only the tip of the iceberg”.
“There are few, if any, worse places to be a child. The country has the highest number of serious violations verified by the United Nations (UN) against children in armed conflicts in the world,” said the representative of the Organization of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Grant Leaity, during a press conference in the Swiss city of Geneva.
Grant Leaity highlighted that the increase in violence in the east of this country, neighboring Angola, during 2022 caused “the worst displacement crisis in Africa and one of the worst in the world.”
“More than 2.8 million children are affected by the crisis in the east of the country. I hope that I am here today to sound the alarm,” he said.
“Every day, children are raped and murdered. They are being kidnapped, recruited and used by armed groups, and we know that the information we have is just the tip of the iceberg,” declared the agency representative.
Leaity said she recently met one-year-old twins during a visit to a center in North Kivu province, who were found abandoned in their village in a state of malnutrition and tied to an explosive belt.
“The increasing use of improvised explosive devices is just one of the latest depraved trends,” he contextualized.
Leaity also recalled that, during the first three months of this year, more than 38 thousand cases of sexual and gender violence were recorded in the province of North Kivu, an increase of 37% compared to the same period in 2022.
“Put another way: in just one year, there were 10,000 additional reports of sexual and gender violence. These are the cases reported only in North Kivu,” he stated, noting that “in addition to unprecedented levels of violence, the lives of “Children in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are threatened by epidemics and malnutrition.”
“Around 1.2 million children under five in the eastern region are at risk of acute malnutrition. Outbreaks are on the rise: the Democratic Republic of the Congo is experiencing its worst cholera outbreak in more than five years and measles is increasing, with more than 780,000 cases for August,” he announced.
For the Unicef representative, “the world looks the other way” and is “failing the children” of this country.
“There is hope, but we need your help in two things. First, UNICEF has the solutions to respond to all the humanitarian needs of children, as long as we have the resources to do so,” he explained.
This year, UNICEF has contributed to “more than 30,000 children and their families receiving mental health support and the reintegration of more than 500 children released from armed groups”, while supporting hospital care for thousands of malnourished children and Helped more than 800,000 people get enough clean water to drink and meet their household needs.
Leaity stressed, however, that these actions “remain palliative care” and maintained that Unicef needs 400 million dollars (more than 373 million euros) to increase the humanitarian response in East Africa.
“Our appeal has only received one per cent additional funding since the emergency extension was announced in June this year and we desperately need more funding,” he said.
“The second thing we need is political will to end this conflict. We call on the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, African nations and the international community to work together to find a peaceful solution to this crisis, a solution that allow millions of displaced families to return to their homes,” he concluded.
Source: TSF
