The Independent Doctors Without Borders or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have revealed that it has in the last two weeks treated over 670 victims of sexual violence in North-Kivu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
In a statement released on Tuesday, 9 May 2023, MSF revealed that the people abused are victims displaced from violence-prone areas in the province including Bulengo, Lushagala, Kanyaruchinya, Eloime, Munigi, Rusayo as well as other areas around Goma.
The MSF stressed that shocking the figures recorded was evidence of the extreme vulnerability and the risk of violence to which the displaced people in the said areas are exposed to.
“Nearly 60% of the victims were attacked less than 72 hours before reporting to MSF, illustrating the urgency of the situation,” MSF said in a press release statement.
Rusuyo area, west of Goma, recorded the highest number of victims with over 360 people treated out of a total of 674.
The MSF further revealed that majority of the victims were women who were attacked by armed men.
The independent medical organization attributed the distress to the lack of humanitarian aid that needed to be administered urgently in the affected areas.
