DRC: Violence created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises - UNICEF | United Nations

Briefing by Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, on the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. --- The significant escalation of conflict in the eastern region of the DRC has reached levels not seen in the last three decades. The intensifying violence has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, leaving millions of children at risk. Since January, more than one million people – including an estimated 400,000 children – have been displaced by violence in the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu. This new wave of displacement comes in addition to the more than 5 million people in the region who were already living in displacement camps … where crowded and unsanitary conditions make the spread of diseases like mpox, cholera and measles much more likely. --- Excellencies … the most defining, and horrifying, feature of this conflict is the rampant violence being committed against children and women. Scores have been killed or injured. There has been a 100 per cent increase in verified grave violations in the first quarter of this year, as compared to the first quarter of 2024. These include indiscriminate attacks, large-scale recruitment and use of children, collective abductions of children, as well as widespread sexual violence. The rate of sexual violence against children has reached shockingly high levels. Reports from child protection partners show that children make up more than 40 per cent of the nearly 10,000 cases of rape and sexual violence reported in January and February alone. UNICEF estimates that during the most intense phase of this year’s conflict in eastern DRC, a child was raped every half an hour.


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