Women’s sexual abuse at alarming level near refugee camps in eastern DR Congo

DOUALA, Cameroon

More than 670 victims of sexual violence have been treated in less than two weeks in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), an international health care charity organization said, stressing the urgency of the situation.

“For months, our teams have been treating a high number of cases, but never before on the catastrophic scale of recent weeks,” Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym, MSF, said in a statement posted on its website late Tuesday.

From 17 to 30 April 2023, according to the statement, MSF teams treated 674 victims of sexual violence in Bulengo, Lushagala, Kanyaruchinya, Eloime, and Munigi, including 360 in Rusayo, one of the newest and most densely populated camps west of Goma.

Almost all of the victims were women looking for firewood and food outside of the displacement camps, the organization said, adding that “nearly 60 percent of victims present within 72 hours of their attack, showing it is an ongoing medical and humanitarian emergency.”

The M23 rebel group, formed in 2012 by disgruntled Congolese militants who wanted to join the national army, has frequently attacked areas in the country's eastern province but has always been repulsed.

In June last year, they attacked areas in North Kivu and occupied it until a few months ago, when peace talks compelled them to leave. However, clashes between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels have forced over a million people to flee their homes, with over 600,000 seeking refuge in camps on the outskirts of Goma, where conditions are often overcrowded and unsanitary.

Illustrating the urgency of the situation, the MSF stated that the figures of sexual violence represent "48 new victims per day," and that 60% of the victims were attacked in less than 72 hours, with more than half of them in Rusayo, Bulengo, and Kanyaruchinya by "armed men.”

“These figures are likely to be fewer than the true number of people affected by sexual violence as they only take into account the consultations carried out by our teams in the camps where we are present,” the statement said.