Kinshasa, DR Congo
Hundreds of thousands
of lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where surging violence and
COVID-19 are exacerbating already dire conditions for millions of forcibly
displaced people amidst threatening massive funding gaps.Refugees queue up for Food supplies in a Settlement Camp
The
Democratic Republic of Congo had by June 7 recorded 4,105 confirmed cases of
COVID-19 – the second largest number in the Southern Africa region. At the same
time, surging violence in uprooting hundreds of thousands of more people in the
east of the country.
UNHCR,
the UN Refugee Agency, is warning that without an urgent injection of cash,
underfunding will have a devastating impact on critical lifesaving humanitarian
programmes.
“Our
activities to assist and protect the refugees and the displaced are only 20 per
cent funded of the US$168 million needed” UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch,
said.
During a
press briefing on 9th June, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Baloch noted
that the gap is seriously undermining our response to bring aid to the multiple
humanitarian emergencies, leaving many vulnerable without food, water, shelter,
health and hygiene facilities amid a rapid spread of COVID-19 across the
country.
“People
uprooted in DR Congo by repeated cycles of conflict, represent Africa’s largest
internal displacement situation – 10 per cent of the global numbers of
internally displaced people. Over the past few months, hundreds of thousands
more people have been displaced in eastern and northern DRC following brutal
attacks by various armed groups, intercommunal violence and natural disasters”
she added.
DRC also
hosts over half a million refugees – mainly from Rwanda, Burundi, the Central
African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan.
As the
overall humanitarian situation remains alarming, UNHCR is forced to make
difficult choices that result in many of those in dire need not getting the
assistance they require. We are working to help the most vulnerable to the
extent possible, minimum standards in health, water and sanitation, education
and other basic needs are often hard to meet with limited resources available
for all populations.
Among
those affected are Rwandan refugees, who had been living in communities now
displaced by successive waves of violence in North and South Kivu. The lack of
funding also hampers efforts towards finding lasting solutions for these
refugees, for whom the Congolese Government indicated an openness to
facilitating long stay permits and local integration.
In South
Ubangi’s Mole refugee camp, additional resources are needed to ensure that
15,000 refugees from CAR have access to the minimum water requirement of 20
litres per person per day. This is particularly important now, when, in
addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, refugees and their hosts communities need
potable water to protect them against endemic cholera and what is now the
world’s longest running measles crisis.
Baloch
said the current available funding also limits UNHCR’s interventions to support
the 120,000 refugees from the CAR living outside of camps, who constitute about
70 per cent of refugees from CAR in the DRC.
The
education gap for 6,000 South Sudanese refugees of secondary age is also
increasing. A staggering 92 per cent of them still do not go to school. While
UNHCR started a small programme to enrol refugees in secondary school,
additional funding is needed to help construct and refurbish school buildings
serving both refugees and host communities.
“Over
47,000 Burundian refugees might not be able to access basic health services in
South Kivu. It will also impact on the self-reliance of these refugees as they
have been waiting for support with agriculture activities to reduce their
dependence on food rations provided by the World Food Programme (WFP)” UNHCR
spokesperson stressed.
She noted
that continued underfunding also undermines UNHCR’s shelter programmes, and specifically decongestant its work to decongest displaced sites and hosting
areas.
More
funding needed to provide durable housing solutions which will contribute to
reduce public health risks.
The
outbreak of COVID-19 further aggravates the risks faced by displaced families
who are unable to return home due to the ongoing violence, and who often live
in overcrowded displacement sites or with impoverished host families. Their
circumstances do not allow for distancing, while there is also limited access
to water, sanitation systems and health facilities.
“We have just
received US$ 400,000 for COVID-19 prevention measures in Democratic Republic of
Congo” Baloch stated.
As COVID-19 and conflict surge, DR Congo displaced face deadly consequences of chronic underfunding.
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