Internally displaced persons (IDPs) across North Kivu continue to suffer from multiple displacement, violence, abuse, arbitrary detention and deprivation. The Representative of the UN Secretary General on the rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin, is now on a mission to examine the situation. On a visit facilitated by Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Saturday 16 February, Mr Kälin met displaced adolescents attending literacy and vocational skills courses at one of the NRC’s Youth Emergency Package (YEP) centres.

One of the students, Benjamin, explained his situation to Mr Kälin. “I had to leave my village because of fighting between governmental troops and rebels. Now I live in one of the IDP camps near Goma. Life is very difficult. But thanks to this education programme I can dream of having a better future when I can return to my village,” Benjamin said.

Other children and youth described the violence and sexual abuse they experienced before being displaced, and their living conditions at the homes of families hosting them in Goma.

Programmes addressing the needs of displaced youth, through education and vocational skills, have a strong protection role, and they can prevent child recruitment and exposure to abuse.

“Education is very important in order for people to be better equipped to make decisions for their own life and to be able to overcome difficulties”, Mr Kälin said.

The UN representative also visited three displacement camps near Goma managed by NRC, where about 60,000 people are living. There, he met with committees of IDPs, families and women’s groups. Together, they discussed the problems faced every day by displaced people in camps. They underlined how women, especially widows and single female heads of households, are particularly vulnerable in camps and sites, and they advocated for the resolution of the conflict to allow them to go back to their villages.

At the end of his mission in DRC, Mr. Kälin will present a report to the Human Rights Council, including recommendations. “Security is only one of the components for durable solutions,” he said, “but other issues should be guaranteed as well, in order to ensure sustainable choices when displacement ends.”

The presence of foreign and Congolese militias and the increase in violent conflict in North Kivu over the past year have caused the highest level of displacement since the end of the civil war in 2003. On 23 January, the government and rebel groups reached an agreement to end the fighting, through a ceasefire and the disarmament or reintegration of militias into the regular army; however since then clashes have been ongoing.

NRC has provided humanitarian assistance in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Katanga since 2001. The NRC programme in DRC is based on an integrated approach, through monitoring protection, providing education for children and the youth, constructing schools, managing IDP camps, building shelter for returning communities, distributing non-food items to returning communities and providing information, counselling and legal assistance for communities.