REPORT PROVIDED BY AN NGO PARTNER OF ACT AFRICA IN DRC
In addition to murders, children are victims of kidnappings, sexual abuse, but also recruitment and use by armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), denounce civil society organizations, noting that the majority of abuses against children in North Kivu and South Kivu are noted in combat zones.
164 cases of child rights abuses were reported during the month of May, of which more than half (91 cases) were serious violations.
The UNHCR situation report reports cases of killing and maiming of children (36% of cases), acts of sexual violence committed against children (25%), recruitment/use of children (18%), and abduction of children (19%).
The majority of these serious violations (87%) were recorded in combat zones, during the withdrawal of actors involved in the conflict or in areas controlled by armed groups. “These areas have seen an increase in killings of children by bombs and sexual violence and recruitment, particularly in the Nyiragongo area,” detailed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in its report.
More than 1,000 serious violations against children in eastern DRC
In detail, the document shows that in Beni, children were allegedly abducted by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) during the various attacks. In Nyiragongo, the recruitment/use of some children in an armed group was reportedly noted.
“In Rutshuru, the Mutanda, Bishusha, Bambu, Kihondo and Kanyabayonga groups were affected by the killings and mutilations of children, abductions and acts of sexual violence committed against children in the context of clashes and reprisals.”
It should be noted that the United Nations verified more than 1,000 serious violations against children in the three eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu during the first quarter of this year. This represents a 30% increase compared to the last quarter of 2024, with recruitment and use of children being the most widespread. In April 2024 alone, more than 450 grave violations against children were verified across the eastern part of the country.
In addition, sexual violence against women and children remained high in 2023 and increased further in 2024. In May, 150 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) were recorded, of which more than three-quarters (114 cases) were rapes.
Clashes between the M23 and the Congolese army
The majority of these rapes (97%) took place in areas where armed actors retreated and where there were clashes in Masisi, Rutshuru, as well as in areas hosting internally displaced persons in Goma and Nyiragongo. These cases of serious GBV were particularly noted in the health zones of Mweso, Nyiragongo, Kirotshe, Kibirizi and Katoyi.
More broadly, protection monitoring has documented more than 1,400 human rights violations and abuses in the province of North Kivu. Returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain the most affected by these violations. The most affected territories are Masisi, Beni and Rutshuru.
According to the UN, this represents an increase of nearly 5% in violations and abuses since April. This increase could be attributed to the continuation of clashes between the M23, other armed groups and the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) in the south-eastern parts of Masisi and northern Rutshuru. These clashes have caused significant displacement, particularly towards the south of Lubero.
These latest developments come in the context of continued hostilities in eastern DRC, including clashes between the M23, other armed groups and the FARDC. “These clashes have approached the town of Kanyabayonga and have led to significant displacement and human rights abuses,” UNHCR concluded.
NGO RENAISSANCE AFRICAINE, RENAF/KIVU in RDC
BALAGIZI Laurent
CEO
A TESTIMONY FROM MRS. KABIBI
In South Kivu and North Kivu in the DRC, raped women are traumatized and victims of the War.
In the hinterland of Bukavu, in Chegera/Goma, at least 26 women were raped during the withdrawal of Congolese troops and their Wazalendo auxiliaries, a retreat following the advance of the M23 rebels in South Kivu. The Kitumaini center works to reintegrate them and the children born of rape.
KABIBI, a 35-year-old Congolese woman, testifies in front of about twenty adults and children from the village. “I have headaches, stomach aches and hyperthermia,” she begins in a frail voice. Three soldiers entered my house. They intimidated me and threatened me with their weapons. Then they raped me.” These events took place on Friday, February 14, shortly after ten o’clock in the morning. Like KABIBI, at least 25 other women from the village were raped during the withdrawal of soldiers from the Armed Forces of the DRC (FARDC) and their Wazalendo auxiliaries, while M23 troops were advancing in South Kivu to take the strategic airport of Kavumu, a few kilometers from Bukavu.
When the soldiers arrived, many men from the village fled. Many women too. Those who stayed were raped. “There were so many armed men. Hundreds, in different outfits. We could no longer distinguish the outfits,” KABIBI tries to remember. Traumatized or legitimate fear of naming the culprits and seeing them return one day? “They spoke Lingala and Kiswahili. Some in civilian clothes carried weapons. We don’t know who will remain in control of the population,” emphasize villagers. Before one of them finally let slip, in a low voice: “They were mostly Congolese soldiers’ (FARDC) outfits.” KABIBI also fears the return of her husband, taken, according to her, by the fleeing soldiers, so that he can transport for them the booty from the looting carried out during the retreat. “I have always that on my heart,” she murmurs. “That” is the fear of seeing her husband return. How will he behave? Will he understand that KABIBI is the victim of rape?
“As long as my husband is not here, I don’t know his reaction, if he will keep me,” she worries. “In addition to the shame, there is the weight of anger. But even if I could see those who did this, I would not even have the strength to do anything.” A fear of returning combined with a loss of income. “Physically, I have wounds related to the rape. I am a farmer, but until I recover, I cannot work,” explains the mother, who has still not received outpatient or psychological care, even though there are health centers not far from the village. “I am afraid that they will ask me for money when I arrive at the hospital.” “I don’t know how I’m going to feed my family,” she sighs, her seven children nearby.
In the countryside of a neighboring village, in Kayanja, KWOKWO, KABIBI’s niece, digs soft soil. For four years, she has chaired one of the many groups of several hundred women, from the “HOPE for Vulnerable Women in Kivu” center, created to help some 5,800 victims of sexual violence, through market gardening or livestock farming. “I was lucky not to have been raped. But in my family, three women were. Including my mother, SOUZANA, raped by six Interahamwe soldiers (Rwandan Hutu militiamen linked to former genocidaires, editor’s note), in 2007 or 2008,” explains KWOKWO. I joined the center to train in agricultural development. As well as to help these “women” who were victims of assaults.
Report by BERNADETTE KATY
Responsible for the fight against GBV and child trafficking in South Kivu and North in the DRC for the NGO RENAISSANCE AFRICAINE, RENAF/KIVU,
South Kivu/DRC : Rape of minors, the women’s component of civil society raises its voice and demands serious investigations
18 minor girls have been victims of rape and other sexual violence by belligerent fighters since the start of hostilities between the FARDC and the M23/AFC in the province of South Kivu.
A GBV survivor against the Walls (Photo: NGO MSF)
Figures published by the women’s component of the South Kivu civil society coordination office during a press briefing held in Bukavu on Thursday, February 13, 2025.
The most striking case is that of a 16-year-old girl who was shot at point-blank range for resisting her tormentors on the evening of Monday, February 10 in the Kabare territory, indicates the women’s component of civil society.
According to the same source, 12 other women were raped between February 6 and 9, 4 of them were killed by the tormentors after committing their crimes
Cases that were recorded in the territory of Kalehe and Kabare, precisely in Kavumu center, Busindé, Mululu, kakenge, Chombo, Kabamba, Kamakombe, Kahanda, Cireja, Buhandahanda.
Women from civil society organizations in South Kivu who are members of the women’s component denounce these cases of rape and sexual violence of which women are victims during this period of armed conflicts in the province of South Kivu where women’s bodies are used as weapons of war.
Situation that humiliates women, sows terror among populations, causes the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and increases the number of displaced persons.
Beyond that, we note women victims of physical violence, many of these victims are deprived of access to health care following the clashes.
In view of this situation, the women’s component of civil society calls on the prosecutor of the international criminal court to seize all these facts used to achieve the objectives of the military and politicians in this period of security crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“The women’s component of civil society in South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, demands that this violence stops because it is used as a weapon of war, that holistic, medical and psychological support be guaranteed now to victims of sexual violence.
That the PEP kit (i.e. a First Psychotic Episode describes the period when, for the first time, a person presents psychotic symptoms. People experiencing a first psychotic episode may not understand what is happening to them) be made available to health facilities in South Kivu in order to serve victims at any time that the need arises, That the Congolese government take charge of children and women raped during this period and that the belligerents stop considering rape and sexual violence as collateral damage. ” indicates the women’s component of civil society in South Kivu.
Members of the women’s component in South Kivu also mentioned recent attacks in which children in maternity wards and women in delivery rooms were killed and mass rapes of women in North Kivu.
Women in South Kivu, DRC indicate that investigations are ongoing by different organizations based in areas where clashes are ongoing, and data will be shared accurately at the appropriate time.
Source: Women’s Component of Civil Society in South Kivu/DRC
Contact: renafsudkivu@gmail.com
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