Speech at the UN Security Council by Danish Refugee Council in New York

Madam President, Excellencies, 

The Danish Refugee Council has been working in the Democratic Republic of Congo for over 16 years, including in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. As a humanitarian organization which specializes in forced displacement, we are also delivering aid in neighboring Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as in over 40 other countries.

Mass displacement and soaring protection risks  

This year’s explosion of violence in and around Goma, has exacerbated the already dire humanitarian situation in the east and led to 660,000 people being forcibly displaced.  This is in addition to the 6.7 million people that were already displaced across the country at the end of last year.

The Danish Refugee Council is among the organizations racing to respond to the erratic and constant movement of IDPs seeking safety since the end of January. IDP sites around Goma were dismantled within 72 hours, forcing IDPs to return to unsafe areas or head to Goma without shelter, food or water. With little notice, families were kicked out of their shelters, forced to leave with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Nearly half of those newly displaced are now living in informal IDP sites, including makeshift camps, churches and schools. Three new informal sites, hosting over 400 households, have formed on the outskirts of Goma in the last three weeks. Overcrowding is an issue and living conditions are appalling. Internally displaced girls and boys are traumatized; are not going to school; and are resorting to begging or looking for odd jobs in exchange for food. We have heard of girls engaging in survival sex. The other half of new IDPs live with host families in Goma, which often do not have the resources to support them.

Just over two weeks ago, the Danish Refugee Council’s field team spoke to nearly 400 IDPs across 11 informal sites. 96% of people do not feel safe. One person told us: “There's nowhere to go, the only solution is to stay in the warehouse and wait to die.” There is widespread looting, shootings at night, and arbitrary arrests, many of whom are wrongly accused of being affiliated with armed groups. There are also reports of boys and men being forced to join armed groups. Displaced people further fear retaliation if forced to return from where they came from, and face extortion, physical assault, and abduction along the way. The presence of armed group members in and around Goma, as well as throughout North Kivu, is further terrorizing those displaced. One person told us they wake each morning to find new dead bodies on the streets where they are staying and it is never clear who the perpetrators are. Every step is fraught with danger as the surrounding area of Goma is extensively contaminated by unexploded ordnance, which is yet another risk to those forcibly displaced and seeking safety.

Sexual violence is rampant. The Danish Refugee Council provides individual case management in informal sites in and around Goma to individuals who have experienced human rights violations. Since the surge in violence in late January, 98 percent of these cases have been for rape, including girls younger than 5. Every single child case management involved rape, further underscoring the extreme risks faced by girls and boys in this conflict. As horrifying as these figures are, we know these are a fraction of the actual number, as most cases go unreported due to fear of retaliation, stigma, and lack of access to specialized services.  

Increasing operational constraints for humanitarian organizations  

The humanitarian response is under extreme pressure and threat. Some humanitarian organizations fear retaliation for providing aid in areas not controlled by the government or are unsure whether they are legally still able to operate there. We lack fuel, cash, and supplies due to looting and the closure of  Goma airport, which is normally a strategic humanitarian hub in Eastern DR Congo and the main entry point for humanitarian supplies.

The situation is further complicated by political instability as local administrative offices which humanitarian organizations engage with are no longer under the control of the Congolese government. This requires navigating new requirements and renegotiating safe access. Banks in Goma are still closed, leading to a lack of cash and creating an environment where mobile money agents can exploit the situation by arbitrarily dictating exchange rates and setting their own rates for withdrawal. The sudden and drastic funding cuts in humanitarian aid to DR Congo announced earlier this year, as part of broader cuts, have further significantly curtailed the ability of organizations to respond to the worsening humanitarian situation in the Eastern parts of Congo, as well as across the country. We must not forget that the situation in the northern province of Ituri also remains critical with limited presence of humanitarian NGOs there.

Displacement crisis to worsen and with growing regional implications

The Danish Refugee Council anticipates that the displacement crisis in DR Congo will only worsen. Our AI-driven forecasting tool, Foresight, developed alongside IBM, anticipates that DR Congo will be one of the biggest displacement hot spots for the year ahead.

Since the escalation in violence in January, 70,000 refugees have arrived in Burundi. This influx is overwhelming the existing transit centres and refugee camps in Burundi, which were already at full capacity. In late February we conducted a rapid needs assessment along the border between DR Congo and Burundi which highlighted the urgent need for emergency food assistance, shelter, child protection, as well health and psychosocial support for survivors of gender-based violence in the refugee camps there. About 1,700 Congolese from Goma also fled to Uganda since January. The regional impacts will only increase if the humanitarian needs are not addressed within Eastern DR Congo and the conflict does not end.  

Pathways to peace as the only durable solution

Members of the Security Council and the international community must:  

1. Use all available avenues to guarantee the safe passage and protection of displaced populations in and around Goma. This includes calling for an end to the forced return of displaced people to unsafe areas and ensuring all returns are voluntary, safe and dignified.
2. Call for the unimpeded humanitarian access to displaced populations, including in non-government-controlled areas, and for the protection of civilians to be prioritized in all response efforts 
3. Urge all parties to find peaceful means to end the conflict, as there are no military solutions to this conflict, and
4. Support local peacebuilding efforts to rebuild trust and social cohesion amongst local communities that have been torn apart by years of war. When conditions improve and allow for displaced people to voluntarily and safely begin to return to their villages, they may find their farms and houses destroyed or occupied by others and they will be left scrambling to find the means to survive.  It will be critical to help them rebuild their lives. 

For nearly 70% of the IDPs the Danish Refugee Council recently interviewed, only peace will make them feel safer. I want to leave you with the words of one of the IDPs we just spoke to who said: ‘We want to go home, where we will be safe, can farm our lands and find enough food to eat’.  

Thank you.