Submit this form
Home News Videos Music Photos Facebook Twitter Friends Newsletter Podcasts Mobile RSS
Aid Group: Displaced Children in Great Lakes Region of Africa at Risk of Sexual Abuse

VOA News - February 26, 2007

World Vision

The aid group World Vision is urging governments and the international community to tackle poverty and war in the Great Lakes region of Africa, where, the group says, displaced children are especially at risk of being sexually exploited. Cathy Majtenyi reports for VOA from Nairobi.

A World Vision report released Monday in Uganda says 1.4 million children have been displaced by war in the Great Lakes region, and half of them are victims of sexual exploitation.

The report examines the lives of refugee and internally displaced children living in camps in Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization that works with children and their families.

World Vision researcher Valarie Vat Kamatsiko tells VOA that the children live in abject poverty, which makes then vulnerable to sexual exploitation.

"Children are compelled to have sex in exchange of money to go to hospital, of money to buy food, even sometimes for their families," she said. "Buying things like lotion or dresses, children are compelled to engage in sex in order for them to get the things that they are supposed to be provided for by their parents, and of course, internally-displaced children are the responsibility of governments, as well."

Kamatsiko says the most common predators are foster parents, teachers, neighbors, and immediate community members. Victims are mostly teenaged girls or orphans.

She says the children's situation is made worse by a breakdown of law and order in some places, little or no support systems for them to turn to, and negative cultural practices, such as girls being forced to marry early so their families can collect a bride price - a payment from the groom's family to the bride's.

The report calls for national governments to formulate and implement policies that protect and help displaced people, ensure that children have access to basic health care and education, and to re-unite children with their families.

Kamatsiko says the region and international partners must also make development and securing peace priorities.

"These displacements are caused by conflict. Therefore, there is need to put a conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace efforts at the forefront. We also call on international organizations, the donors, to increase humanitarian assistance, because the problem is huge, and yet the resources are limited," she said.

The Great Lakes region has been a cauldron of conflict for years.

Burundi is recovering from more than a decade of civil war. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda uprooted hundreds of thousands of people, while violence continues in parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Lord's Resistance Army rebel group is said to be responsible for immense suffering in northern Uganda since the late 1980s.


Related articles


  1. Security Council extends UN mission, intervention force in DR Congo for one year (March 28, 2014)
  2. U.S. sending more personnel to Uganda to hunt LRA leader Joseph Kony (March 24, 2014)
  3. Kabila Congratulates Congo Army for Defeating M23 Rebels (October 30, 2013)
  4. Kony 2012 video director detained (March 16, 2012)
  5. LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony target of viral campaign video (March 7, 2012)
  6. UN, AU vow to eradicate Ugandan rebel group LRA in 2012 (January 5, 2012)
  7. Obama Sends Troops to Help Fight the LRA (October 14, 2011)
  8. UN envoy tells Security Council of improving security, remaining threats (June 9, 2011)
  9. Rights Groups: Strengthen Civilian Protection Before Elections (June 9, 2011)
  10. Military Operations Have Weakened the LRA, Says UN (February 23, 2011)
  11. UN launches patrols to head off rebel violence during holiday season (December 1, 2010)
  12. US President Barack Obama outlines plan to defeat Ugandan LRA rebels (November 25, 2010)
  13. Four African nations crack down on LRA (October 16, 2010)
  14. LRA: UNHCR relocates 1,500 refugees from CAR to the DRC (August 24, 2010)
  15. Report: Uganda LRA rebels 'on massive forced recruitment drive' (August 12, 2010)
  16. Huge DR Congo gold mine to open, displacing 15,000 (July 22, 2010)
  17. Report Says Uganda's Elusive LRA Rebel Almost Caught Last Year (June 24, 2010)
  18. U.S. Official Sees Improvement in Africa's Great Lakes Region (May 26, 2010)
  19. Behind Human Rights Watch Report on LRA, a Plea for MONUC to Remain in the Congo (March 29, 2010)
  20. New strategy needed against LRA in DR Congo, says UN chief (March 28, 2010)
  21. Reports That LRA's Kony is Hiding in Darfur Alarm South Sudan (March 19, 2010)
  22. First set of UN troops could leave DR Congo by late June (March 6, 2010)
  23. Ugandan rebels kill 100 civilians in north-eastern DR Congo, UN reports (February 1, 2010)
  24. Official Denies Uganda Troop Presence in Congo (February 1, 2010)
  25. Top LRA Commander Killed (January 4, 2010)
  26. Blue helmets protect thousands daily, says top UN envoy (December 28, 2009)
  27. UN extends peacekeeping mission in the DRC (December 23, 2009)
  28. Ugandan rebels murder, rape, mutilate, displace thousands in DR Congo, Sudan - UN (December 21, 2009)
  29. UN Security Council urges Uganda's LRA rebels to surrender (November 18, 2009)
  30. Human Rights Watch Chalks New Allegations Against Congo, Rwanda Troops (November 3, 2009)


Live TV Congo Radio en ligne Radio
Available on App Store
Get it on Google Play



Contact Us | About Us | Édition en Français | French Edition

© CongoPlanet.com. All rights reserved.