Child protection in the DRC: Q&A
Since the conflict in the DRC has escalated, we're massively scaling up our child protection work.
1. Why do children need protecting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)?
Children in the DRC are in grave danger. The conflict in the DRC has a terrible history of children being kidnapped and forced to serve with rebel forces.
Before the violence escalated we believe over 3,000 children were fighting with rebel groups. Now there are many, many more.
As well as abduction, children are at risk from:
- Displacement. It’s estimated over 1.4 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
- Separation from their families, making them more vulnerable to rebel forces.
- Violence and abuse. There are reports that soldiers from both sides use mass rape as a weapon.
- Witnessing traumatic events. Even if children manage to escape all of the above, they could witness horrific occurrences.
2. How does Save the Children locate vulnerable children in a conflict situation like this?
We’ve been working in the DRC since 1994. Our work includes identifying separated and unaccompanied vulnerable children, and demobilising children forced to join rebel groups. In the last year we helped 2,200 children out of armed groups, and reunited most of them with their families.
We use networks within communities to identify children who are unaccompanied. We also work with families, educating them on how to stay together in an emergency situation.
When a conflict arises, we’re there to identify and protect children in displaced persons camps. Once a child has been identified (or brought to our attention) we will ‘rapidly register’ the child. That means we’ll talk to them, and get as many details as we can in order to start tracing their family members. This important process also helps the child to feel more safe and secure.
We’re leaders in the family tracing processes. Our systems and recommendations have been adopted by humanitarian organisations across the world. Family tracing involves taking all the details the child (or those around them) have given to us, and — using an image of the child — sending teams out to their communities to begin tracking down the known whereabouts of the child’s relatives. As you can imagine, it’s a phenomenally tough task. After the Rwandan genocide in the 1990’s, we reunited 45,000 families.
3. What does Save the Children do to protect children in the DRC?
Because we’ve been working in the DRC since 1994, we’ve established strong community links, and we’ve set up a network of foster families.
Our first priority is to make sure that separated and unaccompanied children are safe where they are. Sometimes they’re staying with other families from their communities, and we’ll make sure they’re ok to stay there while we trace their families.
If we think they need to be moved, we’ll place them with one of our foster families. These families receive support from us to look after the children. If they’re in a camp, they’ll have lost all of their belongings, so Save the Children provides them with the support they need to look after their own children, and separated or unaccompanied children.
4. What happens to the children?
We make sure the child is safe, and staying with one of our families, someone from their community, or a relative. One of our teams will monitor the family, making sure they have enough support, and that the child is safe there. In the meantime, another team will carry out the task of family tracing. We’ll search high and low until we’ve found their parents, a relative, or exhausted all our leads.
If we find their parents, or a relative, we’ll work towards reunifying the family, and monitor the process to make sure the child stays safe. If we can’t find any relatives, we’ll look at more long-term solutions for the child’s care. This whole process includes all sorts of checks to make sure that that the child is reunited carefully with their rightful relatives.
The current situation in the DRC means we need to massively scale up our protection and reunification work. Families have been torn apart by the conflict, and children are sleeping on roads alone, with no food. We need your help to save these children from terrifying situations that no child should have to experience. Please donate now and help us to save children's lives.
