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Photo Gallery Crisis in North Kivu, DRC

Insecurity in Democratic Republic of the Congo's North Kivu province continues with more than 500,000 people internally displaced, many for the second or third time. Armed combat, persecution of civilians, killings, abductions, sexual abuse and forced recruitment of children still lead to displacement. Reports of rapes and murders number in the thousands.

Some 176,000 of the displaced live in Masisi District, including 49,000 hosted in 19 camps. The conditions are harsh, with entire families living in one-room ramshackle huts with no water or services. UNHCR is very concerned about the security situation, living conditions and the future of the displaced. Even though some 36,000 people living in camps in North Kivu managed to return home in 2010, approximately 72,000 remain.

UNHCR is coordinating 31 camps for internally displaced people (IDP) in the whole of North Kivu providing emergency assistance and support. UNHCR is facing enormous challenges in terms of access to the areas where the IDPs are hosted and continues to plead for humanitarian access to assist the people in need.

A child in front of his family’s crude shelter in Kilimani Camp for internally displaced people (IDP), Masisi District. / UNHCR / S. Schulman Accommodation is very basic in Kilimani Camp. / UNHCR / S. Schulman The trauma of multiple displacements is particularly hard on children, like this boy in Kilimani Camp. / UNHCR / S. Schulman This family came to Kilimani in June 2009 after their village was attacked. Many people were killed, including the woman’s brother and father. “We also lost all of our belongings. And my one son, eight years-old, we lost him for more than two months,” she said. The family had to flee their village a second time. UNHCR / S. Schulman After spending six difficult months in the bush, this family found shelter in Kilimani Camp. “I had four children then and was pregnant while in the bush. I now have five children. I am very worried about my children,” the mother revealed. “It is the sickness here which kills people. Every month someone gets ill and dies.” UNHCR / S. Schulman The elderly are particularly vulnerable in IDP camps, where illness due to close proximity to others and lack of sanitation is a problem. / UNHCR / S. Schulman A displaced child in front of crude shelters in Kilimani IDP Camp, Masisi District. / UNHCR / S. Schulman Two displaced children in their new home in Lushebere IDP Camp, Masisi District. / UNHCR / S. Schulman A woman carries leaves to burn as fuel on her cooking fire in Lushebere Camp. / UNHCR / S. Schulman A UNHCR staff member talks to displaced Congolese women in Lushebere Camp. “We had been sleeping in the bush and returning to the village during the day for eight months and we just couldn't do it anymore. I am so tired. So, we came here,” said one woman, whose husband was abducted. “Now I am alone with four children.” UNHCR / S. Schulman This young mother has been displaced three times from North Kivu’s Rutshuru area. “When we fled this last time [in 2010], when we arrived in Rubari . . . That is where I was raped and fell pregnant with this child,” she said, adding that her father helps look after her. “My neighbours accept the baby, they feel sorry for her, due especially to the cold.” / UNHCR / S. Schulman Kalinga IDP Camp in Masisi District./ UNHCR / S. Schulman Portrait of a displaced family in Masisi District. / UNHCR / S. Schulman