A “pervasive and deeply destabilising” crisis of sexual violence is gripping the Democratic Republic of Congo, with minors increasingly targeted in both conflict zones and stable provinces, UNICEF has warned.
In the windswept hills of Ituri province, 16-year-old “Sabine” cradles a baby girl—a constant reminder of the day she was attacked by a stranger on the outskirts of a displacement camp.
Sabine is just one of thousands. According to a new report released by the UN Children’s Agency on Tuesday, sexual violence against minors in the DRC has reached critical levels, fuelled by thirty years of armed conflict and a collapse of legal accountability.
‘No choice but to risk it’
Sabine lives in the Rhoo displacement camp, a site intended to provide sanctuary for the Hema community fleeing intercommunal violence. However, the camp’s perimeter marks a dangerous boundary.
To step outside to gather food or firewood is to risk death or rape at the hands of CODECO militiamen, an armed group that regularly targets the settlement.
“I had no choice,” Sabine told AFP. Like many children in Rhoo, she was forced to wander into the savannah to find sustenance for her family.
Rachel Mwisi, a specialist health worker, says the burden on children is immense. “Many minors are responsible for the household or care for the elderly. They are the ones putting themselves in harm’s way just to survive.”
The weight of shame
The trauma of the assault is often followed by a second crisis: social exclusion. In many communities, the stigma attached to rape is so severe that victims hide their ordeal until a pregnancy becomes impossible to conceal.
Antoinette, raped at 13 while gathering vegetables, says she spent months hiding her body under heavy cloth to avoid the “disparaging looks” of her neighbours.
Sabine was supported by her parents but says she feels a deep “embarrassment” that they must still provide for her and her child.
A culture of impunity
The DRC’s legal system is often absent in rural conflict zones, leaving a vacuum filled by “informal settlements”.
Silas Gashoke, a lawyer in the provincial capital of Bunia, explains that families often negotiate private payments with perpetrators rather than seeking a trial.
“This creates a vicious cycle,” Gashoke warns. “The perpetrator pays a small sum, never admits to the crime, and returns to the community. It promotes total impunity.”
In some extreme cases, families arrange forced marriages between the victim and the rapist to avoid “scandal”, a practice that Joelle Kahindo, a psychologist with the NGO Sofepadi, says strips the victim of all dignity.
Poverty as a weapon
While the headlines are often dominated by rebel groups like the M23, UNICEF and local experts note that violence is also rampant within the camps themselves.
Extreme poverty has led to a rise in transactional abuse. Mr Gashoke cites cases where girls have engaged in sexual acts for as little as 2,000 francs (less than $1).
“In one of the poorest countries in the world, minors are in a situation of extreme vulnerability,” he said. “Whether it is an armed man in the forest or a neighbour in the camp, the protection mechanisms are failing them.”
