Description of the situation

The Democratic Republic of Congo is the second largest country in Africa, yet stands as one of the poorest countries in the world, with 77% of the population living in poverty and on less than $1.90 per day. As of 2016, the DRC had 78.7 million (Humanium.org).

The population of DRC, especially in Eastern Provinces: North-Kivu, South-Kivu and Ituri have been undergoing wars since 1994 (when Rwandan refugees, including the former Rwandan army reached these places, after the Rwandan genocide) until now. In 1996, the Democratic Republic of the Congo faced attacks from various counties which influenced the creation of more than 100 armed groups that have been killing masses of innocent people and creating chaos among the communities of the eastern provinces up to now. Almost all tribes or villages created their auto-defense militia that torn the whole country whose governments have been corrupted for ages. Among these armed groups, we can mention the FDLR, M23, FRPI, Maji-Maji Cheka, Maji-Maji Nyatura, Maji-Maji Yakotumba, Maji-Maji Mazembe, Maji-Maji Cobra, just to name a few. Apart from the above armed groups, we can add the Terrorist group called ADF NALU Currently killing people without distinction of age or sex from village to village with traditional weapons and guns. They have been declared by the US government to have ties with the Islamic terrorists. All these armed groups have been accused by the international community, Human Right Watch and the government of DRC of commuting massive atrocities, rapes, kidnapping, robbery and other crimes against humanity.

As such, the children and women have been very affected and they need collaborative assistance to have a better future. Most of the children (even under 10), especially boys are forced to serve in those armed groups as body guards, cooks, and girls become wives of the commanders or house girls. In case of attacks, they carry heavy luggage and work for long ways. They are taught to kill, loot and commit all kinds of war crimes. The girls give birth to kids who grow up in such living conditions.

Such living conditions oblige families to flee and stay in camps or host families. As a result most households count between ten and fifteen people within a family. The host families strive hard to get food; a family eats at least once per day because most young people who could grow different crops have joined armed groups or are dependant of other families. Others who escaped armed groups have become street children in cities where they are obliged to create gang groups and drug consumers as none cares for them. Girl children get married very early under the age of 17 and are obliged to drop out of school. So, according to Humanium.org, almost 7 million children aged 5 to 17 are out of school. The same organization describes the living situation of the DRC children in the following words: « Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo are living through one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, where conflict is a daily reality and children are recruited and forced to train as child soldiers. The human rights situation is severe for children, and they experience a myriad of daily challenges: poverty, sexual violence, disease, and inability to access to food and clean water. » Based on such hardship of the children in our country, we feel concerned and called to intervene in saving those children in desperate living conditions through Hope Building Center.