More than twice as many individuals have been compelled to leave their homes and become internally displaced globally over the past ten years.
According to Bruno Lemarquis, the top UN representative in the country, the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) has increased dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“With 5.9 million people, including 700,000 additional displaced individuals this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the biggest population of internally displaced people on the African continent.
Additionally, the DRC is housing more than 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers (mainly from Burundi, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan).
Conflicts, climatically linked shocks, disasters, and increased rates of violent crime are only a few of the many complicated and interrelated variables that contribute to internal displacement.
Millions of people have been displaced throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as a result of protracted battles in the Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu Eastern Provinces, as well as renewed hostilities in the Kasai and Tanganyika Central Southern Regions.
More displaced families are being forced to rely on humanitarian aid as the inter-communal conflicts in the Eastern Provinces enter their second decade and tensions and violence over the use of land and exploitation of natural resources continue, including through the many armed groups active in these regions.
Getting rid of “Gordian knots”
As we all know, while humanitarian aid is vital to lessen suffering in the near term, it is insufficient to address the underlying structural issues that lead to internal displacement.
There has never been a more pressing need to identify long-term fixes for the DRC’s internal displacement problem.
In order to provide more long-lasting solutions to internal displacement and address the needs of the millions of people stranded in IDP sites, it is crucial to find coherence and restore the balance between humanitarian, peace building, and development efforts.
In order to implement the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, the DRC government, province authorities, other development, humanitarian, and peace-building partners, as well as the UN country team and the humanitarian country team, have been collaborating closely over the past few years.
This nexus-based strategy shifts away from the project centric approach to address the primary structural causes of internal displacement, which I now refer to as the “Gordian knots,” by coordinating with national and international partners.
Based on my recent work as the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti, I’ve also learned how crucial it is to collaborate with local authorities to scale up and implement current public policies in order to accelerate the nation’s development trajectory.
laying the foundation for growth
This strategy is based on the understanding that, after 20 years of relying on the humanitarian community and the presence of UN peacekeeping forces (MONUSCO), which are crucial in protecting civilians, we need to give development actors in the DRC more room to operate and work in a more balanced manner to address both the causes and symptoms of displacement.
I’ve learned how crucial it is to sow the seeds of growth and address the underlying vulnerabilities that have uprooted so many families across the nation in the first place, even during the current period of crisis and growing violence.
I was surprised by how many different factors – both the symptoms and drivers of displacement – are at work during several visits to Tanganyika province, which has a high number of IDPs.
These factors include the region’s severe food insecurity, the challenge of accessing services, competition over the region’s abundant natural resources, and rising violence against civilians.
During these trips to the province of Tanganyika, I had numerous conversations with IDPs, who each shared their unique experiences of being displaced and the challenging circumstances they currently face.
Some of what they told me are listed below.
The ability to go back home and work our land is what we desire most in the world, but because the security conditions are not yet in place, we must continue to live in these challenging circumstances.
“We want peace to return because we can’t go back to our villages unless there is a sustainable peace,” they said.
It is obvious that many diverse actors, including peace-builders, humanitarians, development partners, and local government, must collaborate in order to find a long-term solution to forced displacement in this region of the country.
Development can have a significant multiplier impact, supporting the restoration of State authority while bolstering local actors and systems.
The key is collaborating with regional organizations, such as NGOs and civil society groups. When it comes to localization, we must keep being proactive.
Empowering local state actors is a crucial step in creating more sustainable solutions to displacement in eastern DRC, a region that has historically over-relied on humanitarian actors for the provision of social services and public infrastructure.
The UN country team will continue to prioritize this step in the years to come.
A positive future ahead
An important step in this direction may be seen in the UN Secretary-Action General’s Agenda on Internal Displacement.
The Action Agenda outlines a number of commitments for the UN system to step up its engagement and develop more long-lasting solutions to internal displacement by putting prevention, protection, and local partnerships at the center.
It builds on the recommendations made by the High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement at the end of 2019.
The DRC has formidable obstacles, but I have faith that the new Action Agenda and nexus-based strategy will help to further safeguard displaced populations, improve local government, and scale up development actors.