Orlando Bloom: DRC's Children - Recruited To Fight, Killed, and Raped - Need Violence To Stop Now
The UN decided to pull peacekeeping troops out of The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Phase 1 of the departure of the UN-DRC peacekeeping mission, MONUSCO, was completed on June 25, 2024. This plan was executed even though the conditions in the country are dire. Phase 2 ha now been paused but the departure is expected to be completed at the end of 2024.
The movie star Orlando Bloom describes the exploitative conditions he found during a recent humanitarian trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The DRC is home to the largest reserves of coltan-a mineral used in the smartphones we are glued to-as well as significant quantities of the world's cobalt and copper. The country has the Earth's second-largest rainforest after the Amazon. As the second-largest country in Africa, the DRC is the size of Western Europe. It should be one of the richest countries in the world.
Yet, it is one of the world's poorest countries, and as a result of the ongoing armed conflict and inter-ethnic violence, poor governance, and a lack of infrastructure, the Congolese people are not benefiting from this immense wealth.
After relative stability in recent years, renewed conflict since March 2022 in three provinces in eastern DRC has resulted in huge displacement. There are now around 6.4 million people displaced from their homes in the east of the country, including 1.5 million living in camps around the city of Goma, with new families arriving every day. Across the whole country, there are 7.3 million displaced people-an unprecedented number for the DRC. The majority of these people are children and women.
Image: On June 2, 2024, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom hugs an 8-year-old girl, a child conceived through rape, while visiting Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu province. PHOTO COURTESY OF VINCENT TREMEAU/UNICEF
Orlando Bloom speaks up about the suffering of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He describes how children in the DRC are abused as child soldiers, raped, and suffer from actual hunger, and he criticizes how little public attention it gets in 1st world countries:
As is the case in most conflicts, children and women are most affected. Malnutrition remains critical, with more than 1.2 million children under 5 years of age requiring treatment for severe wasting. At the end of last year, 848 schools were closed due to insecurity, disrupting the education of more than 300,000 children.
The DRC regularly ranks among the top three countries with the highest number of grave violations against children. Last year, the U.N. verified more than 3,750 violations against children, including 1,861 children who were recruited and used by armed groups. These are just the reports that the U.N. was able to verify, and the true number is likely even higher.
Almost no one is talking about these atrocities against children.
He continues:
But what haunts me the most is the staggering rates of sexual violence against children and women, including at Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps. Two out of five survivors assisted by the humanitarian community in 2023 across the country were children under 18.
I met some of these girls and women in South Kivu at the Panzi Hospital founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege.
Here, I met Jemima,* who was abducted at the age of 4 by an armed group and taken to live in the bush. Within a few years, she was being raped on a regular basis. By the time she escaped at the age of 9, her little body was so damaged that hospital staff weren't sure she would survive. But after many years and many surgeries, much medical assistance, and psychological support, Jemima told me she is strong, has found self-worth, and is currently studying to be a nurse so she can help other women. Ultimately, she dreams of becoming a doctor.
I want to share Jemima's plea to me. "I want people to know what is going on here," she told me. "This cycle of violence needs to stop."
*Real names have not been used to protect the children's identities.
After only seeing "refugee camps" in the news that look like normal cities in the past months, it was jarring to see what a refugee camp looks like in the DRC:
Image: A view of tents at the Bushagara site for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, photographed during a visit by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom, PHOTO COURTESY OF VINCENT TREMEAU/UNICEF
Full text and more photos at the source:
https://www.newsweek.com/orlando-bloom-drcs-childrenrecruited-fight-killed-rapedneed-violence-stop-now-opinion-1922532
https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/07/un-peacekeeping-exit-in-drc-paused-amid-risk-of-wider-conflict/
Do you have ideas on what you and I can do to help?
I purposefully use my phones until they no longer function and will probably buy an ethical smartphone the next time I need one. Apart from that I do not have a lot of ideas... Donate? Demand the UN reverses its planned withdrawal of peacekeeping troops?
The movie star Orlando Bloom describes the exploitative conditions he found during a recent humanitarian trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The DRC is home to the largest reserves of coltan-a mineral used in the smartphones we are glued to-as well as significant quantities of the world's cobalt and copper. The country has the Earth's second-largest rainforest after the Amazon. As the second-largest country in Africa, the DRC is the size of Western Europe. It should be one of the richest countries in the world.
Yet, it is one of the world's poorest countries, and as a result of the ongoing armed conflict and inter-ethnic violence, poor governance, and a lack of infrastructure, the Congolese people are not benefiting from this immense wealth.
After relative stability in recent years, renewed conflict since March 2022 in three provinces in eastern DRC has resulted in huge displacement. There are now around 6.4 million people displaced from their homes in the east of the country, including 1.5 million living in camps around the city of Goma, with new families arriving every day. Across the whole country, there are 7.3 million displaced people-an unprecedented number for the DRC. The majority of these people are children and women.
Image: On June 2, 2024, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom hugs an 8-year-old girl, a child conceived through rape, while visiting Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu province. PHOTO COURTESY OF VINCENT TREMEAU/UNICEF
Orlando Bloom speaks up about the suffering of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He describes how children in the DRC are abused as child soldiers, raped, and suffer from actual hunger, and he criticizes how little public attention it gets in 1st world countries:
As is the case in most conflicts, children and women are most affected. Malnutrition remains critical, with more than 1.2 million children under 5 years of age requiring treatment for severe wasting. At the end of last year, 848 schools were closed due to insecurity, disrupting the education of more than 300,000 children.
The DRC regularly ranks among the top three countries with the highest number of grave violations against children. Last year, the U.N. verified more than 3,750 violations against children, including 1,861 children who were recruited and used by armed groups. These are just the reports that the U.N. was able to verify, and the true number is likely even higher.
Almost no one is talking about these atrocities against children.
He continues:
But what haunts me the most is the staggering rates of sexual violence against children and women, including at Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps. Two out of five survivors assisted by the humanitarian community in 2023 across the country were children under 18.
I met some of these girls and women in South Kivu at the Panzi Hospital founded by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege.
Here, I met Jemima,* who was abducted at the age of 4 by an armed group and taken to live in the bush. Within a few years, she was being raped on a regular basis. By the time she escaped at the age of 9, her little body was so damaged that hospital staff weren't sure she would survive. But after many years and many surgeries, much medical assistance, and psychological support, Jemima told me she is strong, has found self-worth, and is currently studying to be a nurse so she can help other women. Ultimately, she dreams of becoming a doctor.
I want to share Jemima's plea to me. "I want people to know what is going on here," she told me. "This cycle of violence needs to stop."
*Real names have not been used to protect the children's identities.
After only seeing "refugee camps" in the news that look like normal cities in the past months, it was jarring to see what a refugee camp looks like in the DRC:
Image: A view of tents at the Bushagara site for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, photographed during a visit by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Orlando Bloom, PHOTO COURTESY OF VINCENT TREMEAU/UNICEF
Full text and more photos at the source:
https://www.newsweek.com/orlando-bloom-drcs-childrenrecruited-fight-killed-rapedneed-violence-stop-now-opinion-1922532
https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/07/un-peacekeeping-exit-in-drc-paused-amid-risk-of-wider-conflict/
Do you have ideas on what you and I can do to help?
I purposefully use my phones until they no longer function and will probably buy an ethical smartphone the next time I need one. Apart from that I do not have a lot of ideas... Donate? Demand the UN reverses its planned withdrawal of peacekeeping troops?