The UN says nearly seven million people are now internally displaced within the Democratic Republic of Congo due to escalating violence, declaring it one of the world's biggest displacement and humanitarian crises.

The Bulengo displacement camp in the DRC shelters tens of thousands of people displaced by violent conflict, climate disasters, economic crises, and disease outbreaks that have mired the country in a humanitarian crisis. Yet for many, even the shelter is cloaked in fear.

Anny lost her husband and fled her home when fighting approached their village. The camp provides only makeshift housing and there is no electricity, gas or access to the most basic services. Struggling to feed her family, she organized a trip into the nearby forest with two other women and her teenage daughter to collect firewood.

“While we were collecting wood, these men appeared with knives and machetes, dressed in long robes… They told us to get down on the ground and threatened to kill us if we shouted for help.”

Anny and her daughter were relentlessly raped at gunpoint. “They tore off our clothes… We resisted until we had no strength left.”

Tragically, there has been a 91% increase in reports of violence against women in North Kivu province between 2021 and 2022, making the situation even more dire. With the Democratic Republic of Congo’s deteriorating humanitarian crisis, sexual violence is increasingly being used by armed groups as a tactic to terrorize and control communities.

Estimates show more than 1 million women this year are at risk of gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Will you rush a gift to support women and girls who are at risk of gender-based violence?

With a soaring risk of sexual assault and coercion against women and girls, there’s not enough access to critical response and recovery support — which is critical to heal and avoid unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV.

That’s why UNFPA has set up a mobile clinic in Bulengo to meet rocketing demand for sexual and reproductive health support. Since June, more than 3,000 displaced people have used the clinic, including 200 for sexually transmitted diseases and 30 survivors of violence.

With the stigma of rape too burdensome, Anny first kept silent about her rape. But when she had the opportunity to receive support from our mobile clinic in Bulengo, she was reassured enough to discreetly bring her daughter to the clinic as well.

With more than 6 million people displaced within the Democratic Republic of Congo, the dignity, safety, and rights of millions more women and girls like Anny remain at risk — which is why your support for lifesaving care and services is so urgent today.

Will you make a gift to deliver lifesaving care to displaced women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and around the world? Women and girls are urgently counting on you to access lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services.

Thank you for being there for women and girls — today and always.

— USA for UNFPA