Annual Report of the situation of refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo year 2024

This is our third time we have produced a report on the situation of refugees being hosted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this is something unique and strange, because people know more about Congolese refugees in other countries and little information is available about refugees in DRC. Actually various forces push that refugees in DRC should not exist and should not be recognized, but we wonder why?

IDPs and Rwandan refugees mixed up together in Camps around Goma, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo

Some facts about refugees in DRCongo

Only 526,000 refugees are registered by UNHCR/DRC Government generally from Burundi, South Sudan and Central African Republic, we estimate refugees in DRCongo at around 4Million among them 80% from Rwanda. In the whole DRC territory Rwandan refugees do not have even a single refugee camps while other refugees from others countries have refugee camps. More than 78% of the entire refugee population in DRC are composed of women and children, all Rwandan refugees in DRC lost international protection since 1996 up today. The Democratic Republic of Congo Government body in-charge of refugees known as CNR is highly dominated by officials appointed by Rwanda during the period of RDC Goma and work closely with Rwanda’s regime in order to implement Rwanda’s agenda to repatriate all refugees back to Rwanda, a big number of UNHCR officers are viewed either as Rwandans or pro-Rwanda in DRC. For the last five years no Rwandan asylum seeker in North Kivu was granted a refugee status in DRC, while others have been waiting for their refugee status for more than 10 years now. UNHCR estimated at around 200,000 Rwandan refugees who are registered in DRC, among them only less than 10,000 have valid documents, in Goma we estimate at 30,000 Rwandan refugees but only 5,000 are registered among them only less than 300 have valid refugee identification cards.

This report comes up when UNHCR together with DRC Government have again resumed their operations of sending Rwandan refugees back to Rwanda in a process which we believe is forced repatriation, this process is highly lucrative and is among the most abused one which has been marked by human rights violations. At least 6/10 Rwandan refugees we are in contact with in North Kivu have faced this rude and brutal forced repatriation back to Rwanda and then decided to come back to North Kivu, at least 5/10 Congolese refugees in Uganda are actually Rwandan refugees who were repatriated back to Rwanda and decided to leave towards Uganda where they were registered as Congolese, at least 9/10 Congolese Refugees in Rwanda currently are actually Rwandan refugees who lived in DRC and then were repatriated of moved back to Rwanda where they were put into Camps.

This report comes out when the DRC Government does not have a clear policy on refugees management, when UNHCR’s top agenda is to send refugees back home and when Rwanda is making pressure that all Rwandan refugees should be deported and denied the refugee status.

On a positive move, in DRC currently local leaders are much willing to give land to refugees so that they can settle and start a new life so that they are not abused anymore.

Please find more about the report here ” ANNUAL REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF REFUGEES IN DRC 2024