Open letter to OACHA Goma: Abandon your brain-washing activities focusing on Actors of Civil Society in North Kivu DRC
NREF: 23/COJESKI/NK/08/2024 Wednesday August 14th, 2024
Here is the original letter in English ” LETTRE 23 AUGUST TO OCHA DRCONG0
The Representative of Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo,
CC
The Country Representative of OCHA, in DRCongo,
The Country Representative of UNHCR, in DRCongo,
The Country Representative of WFP, in DRCongo,
The Country Representative of IOM, in DRCongo
The Country Representative of UNDP, in DRCongo,
The European Union Mission, in DRCongo,
The Embassy of the USA, in DRCongo
Re: We strongly reject the round-table meetings organized by International Humanitarian Organizations to brain-wash stakeholders in North Kivu/DRC and divert us from the real problem: Humanitarian Relief Aid should integrate Human Rights, Development, Justice, Peace and Security in their interventions in order to make sense to the local population.
From 19th to 28th August 2024 International Humanitarian Organizations are organizing a series of activities aiming at mitigating the negative impacts of their activities and making stakeholders to accept and support their actions in North Kivu the Democratic Republic of Congo. The invited audience are generally those who are perceived as opposed to humanitarian interventions among them Government Officials, the Civil Society, Pro-Democracy Pressure Groups, Academic Institutions, Religious and Local Leaders, the Media among others. The purpose of the various activities is to explain all actors the whole humanitarian activities and make them accept and support humanitarian interventions. Surprisingly the Internally Displaced Persons and refugees who are the main beneficiaries of humanitarian actions seem absent on the list of those who are targeted.
The United Nations takes foundation on respect and dignity, the very first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights points at conscience. In response to dignity and respect, our core interventions should align with ensuring that we have done all what it takes to prevent the current wars, yet this may not appear the case.
This seems like a response to criticism about the impact of humanitarian activities in the lives of both refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in North Kivu which is viewed totally negative and in which most of local stakeholders believe that humanitarian responses have demonstrated their limits and should no longer be one among the options. Similarly questions are being asked until when would people especially IDPs depend on relief aid, and that globally the relief aid to people in DRC has been considered as the first priority instead of peace, Justice, security and development for the last 30 years, as we have observed from Humanitarian Truce and now to the Cease-fire targeting the wrong audience, yet all these do not guarantee the IDPs to return back to their villages and not even to start a new life despite their resilience to the current economic challenge and in this humanitarian crisis in North Kivu.
The situation of IDPs in all camps in North Kivu is horrible and unacceptable, it is inhuman and degrading and should not be condoned by anyone, and it is just an insult to our conscience. While some IDPs have spent years without getting relief aid in camps, others do not necessary depend on that aid in order to survive as for some the aid may come once in five months, and others have not yet seen it in the last nine months. The existing IDP shelters constructed by Mosquito-Nets and small plastics collected in the durst-bean do not give a glimpse on what is human in us yet Humanitarian Actors have remained indifferent. The increasing number of children and women with kwashiorkor in IDP Camps, the already sealed fate of marginalized and minority groups of IDPs condemned to die in silence one by one, the daily insecurity faced by IDPs in their camps with total indifference from humanitarian actors in the name of neutrality, the lack of adequate medicine and the burden of sexual and Gender Based Violence carried by women may not encourage us to have a small hint where to start from and fairly evaluate the impact of humanitarian response.
As the situation in IDP camps deteriorates every day, we are so much concerned about the luxurious living standards of all humanitarian actors, the mushrooming of luxury houses which are being constructed in Goma belonging to humanitarian actors, and the luxury cars on roads belonging to humanitarian actors point out a culture of injustice somewhere and the exploitation of the misery of IDPs. Such a paradox makes us to question who exactly helps who. It may be legitimate for the workers to be well remunerated and work in conducive environment but not at the expense of the Internally Displaced Persons who continue to sink into destitution.
The initiatives of the series of activities Humanitarian Actors are proposing once again focus on spending the available aid as announced the United States of America and the European Union, millions of dollars are likely to be consumed in these activities yet at just few meters from the venue, IDPs are yarning of hunger. The rationality to justify the budget which will be spent on these mitigating activities may not be well packaged and there are serious questions if that is the best way to spend the USA and Europeans Citizens taxes, are they aware that this is how you intend to spend their money earned through their sweat.
Visiting IDPs and organizing relief aid from time to time with small contributions from local actors and people of good-will in order to address the gaps which are being created by the mainstream interventions, we are daily confronted to the unexplainable despair, each offices is also visited regularly by IDPs who believe even if we have nothing to give them, at least we can amplify their voices which we have done always. That is why, we have again took this initiative to alert all those who decide and those who are still animated by human conscience.
With these mitigating activities being planned by Humanitarian Actors, it may be clear that the perceived threat and resistance is now at the community level, after handling the DRC Government which appears too weak to pressure from humanitarian actors in order to justify the relief aid. Questions have existed about who is the real beneficiaries of the current war in North Kivu by M23/RDF, questions have existed on who benefits from the Government strategy to withdraw and leave places under the control of M23/RDF, questions have existed about who benefits from the Luanda –Angola so called peace deals. It seems humanitarian actors are earning more in this humanitarian business.
Taking into account the potential and opportunities people have in order to create their own food and depend on themselves in their villages, and being conscious that humanitarian relief aid is not a solution to the current situation in North Kivu, we observe that in the process efforts geared towards development projects especially livelihood activities have not been taken into account, at the same time the need to ensure a harmonized human rights approach in all interventions seems to be left out and actually penalized. Humanitarian actions which could have been geared towards justice and reparation have been summarized as mere actions of mercy out of good will, making some extremely rich and others extremely poor.
Basing on the above we make our clear position as following:
We reiterate the daily demands of the Internally Displaced Persons and the entire population of North Kivu, that the first priority remains the end of the war by the withdrawing of M23/RDF which will create an environment for people to go back to their villages. Whatever humanitarian approach which is not working in this line may not be mostly effective in terms of delivery, thus you are likely to give people what is not their priority,
We affirm our position that it inhuman and degrading to keep people dependent of relief aid for more than three years as we observe in some IDPs Camps in Goma and in Nyiragongo yet these people have capacities to produce their own food through income generating activities, thus the urgent need is to integrate livelihood activities alongside relief aid, and ensure that direct relief aid is limited to most vulnerable people only,
Standing for human dignity and respect which are the fountain of the United Nations Charter, we strongly reject the manner in which relief aid is conducted, instead of improving the living conditions of IDPs we observe that their situation is deteriorating every day, thus the need to criminalize human rights violations and put in place human rights approach that should be observed,
We strongly reject the move to brain-wash stakeholders in North Kivu by presenting them humanitarian interventions as alternatives to the situation, this may kill completely the critical minds which we all need in place in order to improve and develop, on contrary we encourage humanitarian actors to promote criticism and accept to live together with those who think differently not as enemies to attack through brain-washing sessions but as partners to forge a way out together for the common good, thus the urgent need to combine humanitarian response with lasting peace, security and justice in North Kivu,
Observing opportunities in North Kivu, there is no urgent need for International Humanitarian Organizations to implement activities where there are so many local organizations and various structures of the Civil Society which can do the work better, recognizing the existing local human resource and giving it the necessary tools in what is called “localization” it is urgent to change the design of the current humanitarian interventions, thus the need to shift towards local actors,
It is therefore our humble request to call upon the organizers of these activities of round-table to put them on hold and work on what should have impact to those in dire situations right now. We commit ourselves to share our ideas with all actors through various activities in order to restore back actions based of “reason”.
Yours sincerely
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
Coordonnateur Provincial
