UN: Over 17,000 Sexual Violence Survivors Treated in Eastern DRC in Just Five Months

Healthcare workers in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo treated more than 17,000 victims of sexual violence in just five months last year, according to a UN report that lays bare the scale of brutality in one of the world’s most violent conflicts.

The annual report on conflict-related sexual violence from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, released Thursday, said the cases were registered in North Kivu province between January and May 2023 as clashes between Congolese forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels spiraled.

“Many survivors sought care after violent sexual attacks, including penetration with objects, perpetrated by multiple perpetrators,” the report said, detailing rapes, gang rapes and sexual slavery.

Conflict fuelling atrocities

The war in eastern DRC has already killed thousands this year and displaced millions. A Qatar-brokered agreement between Kinshasa and M23 rebels last month was supposed to ease the violence, alongside separate US mediation with Rwanda, but fighting has continued.

The surge in sexual violence has tracked the escalation. Across all of 2023, more than 22,000 cases were documented — more than double the figure from the previous year. The conflict spilled into South Kivu, forcing the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO to pull back.

MONUSCO itself recorded 823 cases of sexual violence in 2024 so far, affecting 416 women, 391 girls, seven boys, and nine men.

Perpetrators on all sides

According to the UN, Congolese “state actors,” including army personnel, were behind 198 cases last year. M23 fighters, “which continued to receive instructions and support from the Rwanda Defence Force”, were linked to 152.

Survivors told investigators they faced the threat of assault even while foraging for food near displacement camps. Many displaced women resorted to prostitution to survive, underscoring what the UN called “the nexus between food insecurity and sexual violence”.

‘Complete immunity’

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege, who has treated countless survivors in DRC, was blunt earlier this year.

“When you have people raping with complete immunity – and think they can go on and on without any consequence, nothing will change,” he told The Times.

Guterres’s report covers violations in 21 countries, but the highest numbers were recorded in DRC, alongside Central African Republic, Haiti, Somalia, and South Sudan. Women and girls accounted for 92 percent of victims, but men and boys were also targeted.