Conflict in Congo has led to children being sexually abused and recruited as soldiers, finds Unicef

By -


More than 3,000 boys and girls recruited by militias and armed groups over past year


Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has displaced thousands of children Kenny Katombe/Reuters
At least 1.3 million people have been displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congoby inter-ethnic violence and clashes between the regular army, militia and armed groups, according to a Unicef report.
More than 800,000 children have been displaced in just two provinces - Tanganyika and South Kivu - with many facing sexual abuse or forced to serve as soldiers.
The country is now home to one of the largest displacement crises in the world for children.
Unicef and its partners identified more than 800 cases of sexual abuse, although the true scale of sexual violence against children is believed to be much larger.
More than 3,000 children have been recruited by militias and armed groups over the past year.
Yves Willemot, the charity's head of communication in the DRC, told TheIndependent: “There has been a direct impact on local people.
“The number of malnourished people in increasing rapidly because their communities are no longer producing food as violence has prevented people growing crops in fields.
“Health centres are not functioning anymore, so malaria cases are becoming more deadly than they used to be. Schools are not functioning anymore, which is affecting children in the long term."
He added: “The most important thing is these children are being denied the chance to be a child - it affects their long term development and opportunities."

World news in pictures

Tajudeen Oyewale, Unicef's acting representative in the DRC, said: “Children in the eastern DRC continue to suffer devastating consequences as waves of violence destabilise the region.
“Hundreds of thousands of children in the region no longer have access to health care and education, while many have suffered atrocities at the hands of combatants.
“It is simply a brutal situation for children with no end in sight.”

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/congo-children-sexual-abuse-child-soldiers-africa-unicef-drc-africa-democratic-republic-congo-a8178716.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters

By Explorer -
Image
Massive public protests taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance , that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution. Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that are not popular with the Chinese government . The same law could also be used to extradite tourists and visitors to China who are arrested on suspicion of having committed these crimes. Protesters want the bill scrapped. For now, debate of the legislation has been postponed . Organisers say one million people turned out for the protests, while police estimate the number was around 240,000. Either way, it was a significant number of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population. Commentators on Twitter remarked on how well organised the protesters were. So, how did they do it? Protesters across the world are using n
Read more

‘Not Hospital, Al-Shifa is Hamas Hideout & HQ in Gaza’: Israel Releases ‘Terrorists’ Confessions’ | Exclusive

By Explorer -
 According to a video of interrogation of "Hamas terrorists" released by Israel Security Agency Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18, "The Shifa hospital has been made with many considerations as Hamas knew that medical places won’t be attacked by the enemy. Equipment, explosives and other material has been kept there." Hamas is using hospitals in Gaza as covers and have turned them into ammunition depots, according to a video of interrogation of “Hamas terrorists" released by  Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18. ALSO READ | Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates  HERE The Israeli military has claimed that those featuring in the video released on Saturday are Hamas terrorists, who participated in the  October 7 attack  on Israel. “Most of the tunnels are hidden in hospitals. There are multiple underground levels. Al-Shifa Hospital is not small, it is a big place that can be used to hide things," a man is seen saying. “The Al-Shifa
Read more

Islam Has Massacred Over 669+ Million Non-Muslims Since 622AD

By Explorer -
Image
In fact, no ideology has been as genocidal as Islam… Islam has killed more than 5 times the number of people killed by communism. In the total numbers we have updated over 80 million Christians killed by Muslims in 500 years in the Balkan states, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia. Then we have India. The official estimate number of Muslim slaughters of Hindus is 80 million. However, Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or  the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time. With these new additions the Muslim genocide of non-Muslims since the birth of Mohammed would be  over 669 million murders. Islam: The Religion of Genocide Perspective:   Think the Spanish inquisition was bad? More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition* combined. The Spanish inquisition ( Tribunal del Sant
Read more