Children at risk in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The plight of children and their families in North Kivu province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo has dramatically deteriorated over the last few weeks. As families flee the conflict, children are at risk of being separated from their parents, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.
Almost 176,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since September amid new fighting and an escalation of violence in North Kivu province, with thousands of children among them. Over 7,000 people are believed to have been displaced in just seven days in October.
"When families flee their homes - often leaving with only what they can carry on their backs - children are at risk of being separated from their families. This can result in them being abused or (re)-recruited into militia groups," said Amanda Weisbaum, Deputy Director of Emergencies, Save the Children.
According to UNICEF, the UN children's agency, there have been reports of forced recruitment of all males over the age of fifteen in some areas. "In the last couple of weeks, we believe hundreds of children have been recruited into militias, which brings the total number of cases to well over a thousand," a UNICEF spokesperson said.
In December 2003 a peace agreement set up a transitional government within the country. But armed groups have continued fighting in the east of the country. Fighting erupted between Congolese government troops and the dissident general, Laurent Nkunda last month.
Ill-disciplined fighters from all sides are wreaking havoc in communities, looting houses, and killing and raping innocent parents and children. Many armed groups are also forcibly recruiting both boys and girls to fight, some as young as nine or ten years old.
Photo credit: Marcus Bleasdale
Every day communities tell us about children who have been recently recruited. Those most at risk are boys over the age of fifteen. Well over 1,000 children have been recruited this year, and the numbers continue to rise.
The prevalence and severity of sexual violence in the eastern DRC is amongst the worst in the world. Girls and women are being raped in their villages, as they flee the fighting, or even in camps for displaced people, where they hope to find safety and shelter. Our staff are reporting that two to three new victims of sexual violence are coming every day for urgent treatment to a sexual violence clinic in Goma, many of them under the age of 18. The numbers of patients at the clinic has been rising significantly since April 2007.
According to Save the Children's latest reports, all schools in Nyakariba, an area within the province are closed, and children have fled to avoid being recruited into armed forces. More and more schools are closing due to the ongoing insecurity.
What we are doing in North Kivu province
Save the Children is one of the few non-governmental organisations operating in the districts of Masisi and Rutshuru in the province. But children and their families are hard to reach due to the ongoing insecurity.
At the end of September, in response to critical humanitarian needs, we provided four health centres in Rutshuru district with drugs, medical equipment and training, and vaccinated over 10,000 children against measles. We run extensive emergency nutrition and health programmes in 27 health centres in the Masisi area where we provide food to malnourished children and pregnant women. In the coming weeks, we will support a further ten health clinics in this area and will launch a measles vaccination campaign targeting around 25,000 children. Save the Children has run child demobilisation and reintegration programmes in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri for years. The latest available figures from North Kivu show that over 110 children ex-combatants are currently living in either one of our three transit shelters, or with foster families.
As long as the fighting continues, reaching families in need will be difficult. Save the Children is calling on the international community to demand that all forces involved in the fighting protect civilians, allow humanitarian access to all civilians and respect international human rights and humanitarian law. All pressure should come upon the Governments of the region and those with links to the fighting parties to end this military confrontation and return to the negotiating table.
Find out more
Sarah Jacobs, Save the Children's media manager for Africa, has recently visited the eastern DRC. She writes about life in a camp for people who have fled their homes because of the upsurge in violence for CNN online and reports on the horrific sexual violence that's rife in the eastern of the country for Channel 4's Unreported World.
What you can do
We're working flat out to get every child their rights and we're determined to make further, faster changes. We'd like you to get involved too.
