Last year, Doctors Without Borders reported an “unprecedented” number of sexual violence cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with most incidents occurring in the country’s eastern regions.
The organisation treated over 25,000 victims and survivors of sexual violence in 2023, averaging more than two victims every hour. The majority of cases were handled in displacement camps near Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province.
The report revealed that two-thirds of the victims were assaulted at gunpoint. Eastern Congo has long been afflicted by armed conflict, with more than 120 militant groups vying for control over power, land, and valuable mineral resources.
Many of these groups have been accused of mass killings, rape, and other human rights abuses, leading to the displacement of approximately 6 million people in the region.
Congo has accused neighbouring Rwanda of participating in aggression and committing war crimes in the region. While Rwanda denies these allegations, it has acknowledged deploying troops and missile systems in eastern Congo for what it describes as security reasons.
One key source of the conflict is the M23 rebel group, primarily composed of ethnic Tutsis, which launched a significant offensive in 2012 and once again poses a threat to Goma. Human Rights Watch has reported that both Rwanda and Congo’s military forces have committed abuses against residents in displacement camps.
Doctors Without Borders attributes the surge in sexual violence to the high concentration of armed individuals around displacement sites, along with inadequate humanitarian aid and the dire living conditions in these areas.
Between January and May this year, the charity treated over 17,000 victims of sexual violence in North Kivu province alone.
