UNICEF DRC Humanitarian Situation Report No. 2: 31 July 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo

Highlights

• The scale and scope of humanitarian needs remain significant with population displacements, due to conflict and insecurity, increasing throughout North Kivu, Ituri and South Kivu and.

• Security and access challenges are exacerbating an already difficult humanitarian situation in some areas in Ituri as well as North Kivu which prevent/limit humanitarian organisations’ access to affected populations with assistance and impedes the affected population’s access to humanitarian services.

• Safeguarding women, girls, and boys remains a significant proection concern. In terms of Child Protection and GBV, UNICEF will continue to scale up its risk mitigation, prevention, and services in partnership with local government authorities, specialised national NGOs, and women and youth-led organisations.

• Since June, UNICEF has reached over 832,000** people with accss to water and sanitation across the crises affected areas (44 per cent of its overall access to water scale-up target).

• Funding remains a challenge in sustaining and scaling up life-saving assstance.

Situation in Numbers

4.9 million
people in need of humanitarian assistance

2.8 million
children in need of humanitarian assistance

1.5 million
Newly Internally displaced people over the past 6 months (OCHA)

28,645
suspected cholera cases, 203 deaths (end July 2023, Min. of Health)

Funding Overview and Partnerships

UNICEF is appealing for US$ 401.3 million to scale up the provision of life-saving services for women and children in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces focusing on the upsurge in violence in Rutshuru and Masisi territories, the inter-communal conflict in Djugu and Mahagi territories, the violence in ”Grand Nord Kivu” and South Ituri, and the cholera outbreak in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. UNICEF’s requirements for the Emergency Scale-up in eastern DRC is a subset of UNICEF’s overall Humanitarian Action for Children 2023 for DRC. To date, UNICEF has received over US$ 43 million against its 2023 requirements including an allocation of the Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding and an internal loan of US$ 5,750,000 from UNICEF’s global Emergency Programme Fund. The L3 emergency scale-up still has a funding gap of 90 per cent to meet the immediate response needs.

In addition to funding, in-kind support for flights to transport life-saving supplies to Eastern DRC has also been received. For example, Flexport donated three flights of 50 tons each out of the regional warehouse in Accra, Ghana, to Goma, DRC. UNICEF sincerely thanks all public and private donors for the contributions received.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

The situation continues to deteriorate drastically, especially in the two eastern provinces (Ituri and North Kivu), with spillover into a third (South Kivu), where armed conflicts and inter-communal clashes are causing unprecedented humanitarian need. Around 4.9 million people (2.8 million children) are in need of humanitarian assistance, including over 1.5 million people displaced since January, including over 800,000 children.

During June and July 2023, pockets of instability resurfaced with new M23 attacks in Bukombo in Rutshuru territory, as well as Bashali Mokoto and Bashali Kaembe in Masisi territory. This resurgence has increased the insecurity and humanitarian access challenges considerably, especially in areas controlled by non-state armed groups, with prolonged displacements and sponteneous movements of people.

According to IOM crisis analysis data from end of June till mid-July there are a total of 613,073 displaced people affected by the M23 crisis; 94 per cent in North Kivu province, and 6 per cent in South Kivu. The Masisi territory is the most affected by displacement, with 30 per cent of people displaced, followed by Lubero and Rutshuru with 18 per cent each; Nyiragongo and Goma with 17 and 11 per cent respectively.

In Ituri province, armed violence continued during July, exacerbating humanitarian needs among the population. More than 22,900 people in Urumu territory were forced to flee to villages on the outskirts of Bunia as a result of the repeated violence. In Mambasa territory, civilians were killed in their fields in the villages of Apetineko, Mabuo (Lolwa health zone) and Mandimo (Mandima health zone), according to local authorities. These incidents caused the displacement of around 1,500 people to neighbouring localities. Other residents, whose numbers remain unknown, have moved to the province of North Kivu, according to humanitarian sources. Humanitarian actors have called on local authorities to step up protection of civilians in the area, particularly during the cocoa harvest. In Mahagi territory, the Rimba health zone has been facing repeated attacks by armed groups, accompanied by looting of food and non-food items. Some 18,000 people has been forcibly displaced to surrounding villages as a result of the insecurity. These population movements are likely to exacerbate the vulnerability of communities living in the area.

This intensification of insecurity, violence and conflict across eastern DRC has spurred a sharp increase in grave violations perpetrated against children, notably child recruitment into armed groups, abductions, and sexual violence. Of particular concern are the extremely high levels of sexual violence and exploitation reported against children and women notably in and around IDP camps next to Goma in North Kivu. In North Kivu province, a 37 per cent increase in gender-based violence (GBV) cases was reported in the first trimester of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.5 The conflict has also significantly impacted children and women, with armed groups targeting civilians as well as schools and hospitals, notably in Ituri province.

Compounding this already fragile situation is an onoing cholera outbreak where the total number of cholera cases has increased at a rate that has not been observed since 2017. Over 28,645 suspected cases were reported as of July in DRC and 203 deaths.6 About 80 per cent of the cholera-suspected cases have been reported in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces with an increase in number of cases reported in Tanganika.7 An urgent need to scale-up and improve access to clean water and sanitation remains, especially in IDPs sites that are currently lack sufficient water and sanitiation.