Intensifying Fighting in Eastern DRC Triggers Major Protection Risks for Children

The rapidly deteriorating conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee to escape threats and violence. The ongoing offensives and territorial advances by the M23 and affiliated forces and groups in Goma, North Kivu and the armed forces and groups who are actively resisting them, have doubly exposed children to an increasing risk of grave violations. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC), Virginia Gamba, expresses her deep concern over the escalating violence and its impact on children and calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

In the heat of the moment, all parties to conflict in and around Goma are recruiting and using children while the level of intense fighting in the region has greatly heightened the risk of child fatalities and injuries. Hospitals, humanitarian facilities and other civilian infrastructure have also come under attack, as well as United Nations peacekeepers, further exacerbating the suffering of the local population, which overwhelmingly include children. As the violence escalates and spreads into other villages in North Kivu and South Kivu, children, including those displaced, are threatened with the risk of facing all six grave violations, particularly recruitment and use, abduction, sexual violence, killing and maiming. Furthermore, the destruction of healthcare facilities has pushed the already strained medical system to the brink of collapse, with the few operational hospitals struggling beyond capacity, impeding preventable child deaths due to the lack of urgent medical care.

The Special Representative strongly condemns the increased hostilities in eastern DRC, which have led to severe violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights. She calls on all parties to conflict, those directly engaged in military operations and those who have influence over the different armed groups and militias, to actively engage and to find an agreement to immediately cease these atrocities and to fulfill their legal obligations to ensure the protection of children. “All parties and those who have influence over them, must take all necessary measures to stop this violence. I urgently call on Member States involved in regional peace and mediation efforts to put child protection at the center of their efforts in their peace building efforts”, she concluded.