DRC refugee children 'raped during journey' to Uganda

DRC refugee children 'raped during journey' to Uganda

Save the Children: 10 percent children out of thousands of Congolese refugees every week in Uganda say they have been raped

By Sadik Kedir Abdu

ANKARA (AA) - Ten percent of newly-arrived refugee children from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have said they were raped during their journey to Uganda, according to Save the Children Wednesday.

The international nongovernmental organization’s report comes as thousands of Congolese refugees continue to pour into Uganda each week.

Save the Children said it arrived at the conclusion after interviewing 132 refugee children aged 10-17.

The children also told the aid group that hunger was the biggest issue they faced during their journey fleeing the DRC, affecting 81 percent of those interviewed.

Sickness affected more than 1 in 2 children (53 percent) along the way, and a quarter of children interviewed said they were assaulted by armed groups as they fled (27 percent).

Save the Children’s Emergency Response Director in Uganda Johnson Byamukama said: “The conflict in DRC is one of the world’s forgotten crises. We see child refugees arriving in Uganda every day in desperate need. Every one of them has a horrific story to tell, including of rape, of parents being killed, of witnessing extreme violence.

“Two children we spoke with had made it to Uganda after becoming separated from their parents in the chaos of an attack on their village. Then they heard that their mother might still be alive so they went back home, only to be shown her dead body. She had been killed just a few hours before. The children then had to make the dangerous crossing to Uganda all over again. Heartbreaking stories like this one are all too common.”

The nongovernmental organization urged donors to urgently increase funding for the regional crisis.


- Unsafe in Uganda


“The size and scale of this devastating crisis is hard to fathom, and yet the world has not taken notice. It’s time for donors to step up and give generously to support these children, who have had their childhoods ripped up from beneath their feet.

“Uganda now hosts more refugees than anywhere else in Africa, putting enormous pressure on basic services, especially health and education, and it needs more support,” Byamukama said.

The report added children remained at risk of sexual violence even after arriving in Uganda, especially around the settlements they end up living in. Interviewees said the risk of sexual violence was highest while collecting firewood (42 percent); collecting water (42 percent); or on the way to school or while playing.

“Children reported their biggest concerns are not being able to go to school, hunger, teenage pregnancy, sexual violence, attacks, abductions, and lack of shelter,” the assessment report added.

According to the DRC, so far this year, more than 73,000 refugees have fled the conflict in DRC to Uganda, including nearly 2,800 unaccompanied or separated children.

Moreover, there are growing tensions over land allocation in the settlements.

“The amount of land refugees receive has shrunk over time, which risks making their already challenging lives even more difficult and creating huge tension between different groups of refugees and local communities—all of whom are living in a desperate situation,” Byamukama added.

The DRC has been hit by violence for over two decades during which the Congolese army and local self-defense groups have been fighting various militia groups in the eastern part of the country.

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