The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in collaboration with its 30 humanitarian partners launched a US $ 504 million appeal for funds to help those forced to flee their homes. one of the most complex, difficult and forgotten refugee crises in the world.
The call for funds will first respond urgently to the immediate situation in Uganda, Zambia and Angola, while preparing for the massive influx of refugees to the Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda and in Burundi. The 2018 Regional Response Plan for Refugees in the DRC aims to address the challenges and gaps in providing assistance to these refugees and their host communities in seven neighboring countries and other countries in southern Africa.
The DRC’s 2018 Regional Refugee Assistance Plan will prioritize access to and protection of refugees, immediate needs and partnerships, to find durable solutions for refugees Congolese. The crisis has also caused the displacement of 4.5 million Congolese inside the DRC.
According to the Coordinator Regional Office for the situation in the DRC, Ann Encontre, “If we do not act quickly to avoid a decline in standards and living conditions, the impact will be catastrophic while the humanitarian situation of Congolese in the region is already precarious.”
Existing camps and installation sites are saturated while available essential services have reached their limits. The situation has detrimental effects on the most vulnerable, such as the many women who have been victims of sexual and gender-based violence before and during their flight.
In many reception areas, refugees have been moved to a safe place further away from the borders. Major investments are also needed to create new installation sites and maintain existing sites, to ensure that Congolese can benefit from adequate medical care, adequate food, and efficient water and sanitation systems. a quality education.
Since early 2017, more than 160,000 Congolese have been displaced throughout Africa as a result of frequent abuses by militias, civil strife and violence in the DRC – a country almost as vast as Western Europe. With 740,000 uprooted in total, the Congolese refugee population is among the top 10 refugee populations in the world. Nearly 55% of them are children, many of whom have crossed the border unaccompanied or separated from their parents.
