Refugees International: Articles: RI Advocacy Results in Organized Return for Displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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RI Advocacy Results in Organized Return for Displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

DRC 2004: RI Helps These Men Return Home
01/31/2005

In October 2004, Refugees International learned that several thousand displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who had fled from war and violence had been placed in camps by the UN and had subsequently been abandoned. Now, because of RI’s advocacy, these people are finally returning home.

According to the International Rescue Committee more than 4,000,000 Congolese have died from hunger and disease during six years of war. Most of these deaths are not from bullets but rather from a lack of humanitarian assistance. It is very difficult for humanitarian aid agencies to access those in need because many displaced people live in extremely remote areas. Furthermore, uncontrollable tribal militias limit the ability of aid agencies to travel safely.

Refugees International arrived in Kinshasa in October 2004 to learn more about what was needed to assist and gain access to those who have been forced to leave their homes. Immediately, the Refugees International team learned of more than 3,000 people who had moved westward towards the capital to protect themselves from the violence and deaths that took place in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. They had been placed in camps by UN agencies and subsequently abandoned. (See RI's October bulletin: UN Humanitarian Agencies are Failing Displaced in Camps.) Mubalama, a coordinator of a local committee of displaced people told them, “Even the Congolese government has forgotten us.”

The RI team interviewed the residents of the camp and found that 80 percent of the interviewees wanted to go back home. They believed that peace and security had been restored by the transitional government. “Life in this camp is not far from hell,” said Marianne, a young girl who became pregnant after being forced into prostitution in order to survive.

RI began to search for a durable solution that would save the lives of these forgotten people. They learned that the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) could initiate a pilot project with the Congolese government that would return these people to their homes, but they desperately needed funding. Without it, they could do nothing.

On return to the US, the Refugees International team spoke with people at UNDP in New York and sent a bulletin describing the plight of these people to embassies in Kinshasa and other agencies worldwide.

After receiving the bulletin, the Norwegian ambassador in Kinshasa made an official visit to the camp. He talked to the people there and promised $800,000 for the pilot project to return them home. In addition, Congolese vice-president Zahidi Ngoma and the Minister of Social Affairs made an official visit to the camp with a national camera crew. For the first time since 2002 a televised meeting between two high-level government officials with the displaced people was held.

With the funds donated by the Norwegians, the UNDP and the Congolese government are now able to rent two boats to bring the people back home. The former Congolese Minister of Social Affairs told Refugees International, “If you didn’t come and push us to concrete action, those displaced people would have stayed where they were forever. They had only you to talk on their behalf. Frankly, no one knew anything about them until you talked to us and wrote about them. Thank you for your advocacy and bringing national and international attention to this issue.”