The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees is concerned that a large number of internally displaced people in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo face gross violations of human rights and live in dire humanitarian conditions, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said in a statement on Tuesday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th November, 2019) The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees is concerned that a large number of internally displaced people in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo face gross violations of human rights and live in dire humanitarian conditions, UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch said in a statement on Tuesday."The UN Refugee Agency is alarmed that hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are not only living in dire conditions without proper assistance but are unprotected and exposed to extreme human rights violations on a daily basis," Baloch said.
According to Baloch, following a wave of brutal attacks by armed groups in June, some 300,000 people were displaced in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, and another 4 million people were already uprooted throughout the country.
Currently, these civilians live in fear of attacks, killings, sexual violence and abductions. In October alone, UNHCR employees recorded at least 1000 human rights abuses in the two provinces.
The fact that many women and children still live and sleep in the open or overcrowded places further exposes them to risks of harassment, assault and sexual exploitation, Baloch added.
The UNHCR has increased its humanitarian operations in the displacement crisis in the DRC, yet, the agency requires additional resources to continue the response. In 2019, of the $150 million that the UN agency needs to continue to operate in the country, only 57 percent has been received.
