The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that the wave of displacement caused by the upsurge in violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has caused thousands of people to flee their homes, poses a «deadly threat» to children, including residents of displacement camps.
The agency has highlighted that the worsening crisis is causing constraints on humanitarian access in the camps, especially due to the increase in people displaced by recent offensives by the rebel group March 23 Movement (M23) in Rutshuru territory in North Kivu province.
«The IDP camps are fraught with danger,» warned UNICEF Director of Emergencies Dounia Dekhili. «In addition to the threat of cholera, children and young people are at risk of gender-based violence in extremely overcrowded camps,» she lamented.
She detailed that nearly 100,000 people have arrived in the last ten days in camps for displaced people in the area, some of them hastily set up to accommodate the victims, without complying with the guarantees of safety and cleanliness to avoid possible outbreaks of disease.
These displaced persons are in addition to the nearly 200,000 people who have fled their homes since the upsurge in fighting at the end of March 2022, in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between DRC and Rwanda over the latter’s alleged support for M23 operations.
«There are about 190 children who have been separated from their families or caregivers during the chaos of the recent displacements and so far we have reunited 80 with their families in Nyiragongo territory,» said Dekhili.
«More cases of unaccompanied children and children associated with armed conflict are likely to emerge as the crisis unfolds. Giving people clean water, latrines and sufficient food is proving to be a big challenge. It is not an exaggeration to say that the lives of thousands of people living in these camps are in grave danger,» he stressed.
Thus, the head of UNICEF’s field office in Goma, Jean Metenier, detailed that «the priorities are to provide access to safe water and hygiene, work with agencies and partners to deliver food and improve the quality of shelter».
«We call on all parties to the conflict not to resort to violence, to protect children and their parents and to seek peace. The suffering must end immediately,» he concluded, according to a statement published by the agency on its website.
The M23 has been accused since November 2021 of carrying out attacks against DRC Army positions in North Kivu, seven years after the parties reached a truce. UN experts have accused Uganda and Rwanda of supporting the rebels, although both countries have denied this.
