Country Operations Profile

Working environment

The context

Despite the Goma Conference on peace, stability and development and the signing of a ceasefire agreement in January 2008, violent struggles in eastern DRC continue. This has caused new displacements, endangering the sustainability of the peace process. Attacks on civilians and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as a lack of progress in the disarmament of militias, are hindering the return of stability to North and the northern part of South Kivu provinces.

At the same time, other areas such as the Province Orientale, Katanga and the southern South Kivu remained relatively stable, allowing for some progress in the search for durable solutions for internally displaced populations and Congolese refugees in the the region.

UNHCR also provides assistance to IDPs returning to their homes in the DRC's Orientale province. All registered IDPs who wished to return to Katanga province have been assisted to do so. Furthermore, UNHCR has helped some 5,200 IDPs from North Kivu to return to their areas of origin in Ituri District, while another 6,000 have registered to return.

As of June 2008 there were some 1,250,000 IDPs in eastern DRC, 68 per cent of them in North Kivu province. The DRC also hosts some 173,000 refugees, mainly Angolans, Burundians and Rwandans.

The needs

Killings, abductions, arbitrary detentions and sexual violence persist in conflict areas in DRC. A recent NGO assessment showed that 90 per cent of women interviewed in eastern DRC felt less safe than they did a year earlier. More than 100,000 IDPs in North Kivu depend on humanitarian assistance. Others who need help have not received it because they live in inaccessible areas.

The sustainable reintegration of refugees and IDPs remains a challenge due to massive destruction, and the lack of infrastructure and basic social services, as well as weak administrative and social structures, and a lack of economic opportunities. Participatory assessments among people of concern to UNHCR have shown that access to health, education, shelter and food are major concerns.

Faced with these overwhelming needs, UNHCR is concentrating on resolving disputes over nationality, land and property titles, shelter for returnees with specific needs, community empowerment and livelihood support.

UNHCR's involvement with IDPs is a major component of its operations in the DRC, where large-scale internal displacement has been occurring since 2007. UNHCR leads the camp coordination and camp management cluster at 15 sites. In collaboration with its partners, the Office will seek durable solutions for IDPs and refugees in the DRC and support the reintegration of Congolese returnees.

Main objectives

Annual programme

• Strengthen refugee protection and the search for durable solutions.

• Ensure that protection and community recovery needs are identified and adequate responses are coordinated.

• Help to prevent and respond to violations of the human rights of civilians.

• Support survivors of sexual and gender-based violence and combat the impunity of perpetrators.

• Secure the voluntary return of Congolese refugees and IDPs in safety and dignity.

• Solve land and property disputes.

• Prevent statelessness by ensuring that all residents in eastern Congo hold a nationality or other secure residence status.

• Support the reintegration of refugees and IDPs and provide vulnerable groups with shelter and the means to earn their livelihoods.

• Lay the foundation for sustainable development in the areas of return through the creation of community development projects.

Supplementary programme

• Help to respond to new displacements.

• Improve safety in IDP sites and ensure their civilian character.

• Improve the well-being of IDPs in camps and prepare them for return.

• Create humanitarian space in the areas controlled by non-State actors and protect IDPs and returnees in those areas.

• Reduce the impact of IDPs on the environment.

Key targets

• Angolan refugees are repatriated voluntarily and all registered refugees receive documentation as a first step towards local integration.

• The protection as well as reintegration and community recovery clusters demonstrate key achievements.

• Violence and human rights violations are reduced in areas prioritized for protection interventions; perpetrators are held liable for their actions.

• Reporting and referral mechanisms for sexual and gender-based violence are operational, and all survivors receive assistance and legal support.

• Returnees are able to exercise their right to return; no forced returns occur.

• Disputes are peacefully resolved and returnees are able to recover their property and obtain identification documents.

• Access to shelter, health, education and livelihoods improves in areas of return.

• UNHCR contributes effectively to inter-agency emergency response mechanisms.

• There is a reduction in the number of protection incidents at IDP sites.

• IDPs are registered and profiled; the relevant data is regularly updated.

• Post-emergency standards of protection and assistance are achieved at IDP sites.

• Uncontrolled woodcutting around IDP sites is reduced; 60 per cent of IDPs use fuel-efficient stoves.

Strategy and activities

UNHCR will assess reintegration needs and design appropriate strategies to meet them. The Office will support the voluntary repatriation of the remaining 60,000 Angolan refugees who have expressed the desire to return, and will also organize the voluntary repatriation of Rwandan civilians who report to the network of assembly points. For those refugees who are integrated into DRC communities and wish to stay, UNHCR will seek an alternative legal status. Responsibilities for refugee status determination (RSD) will be handed over to the Government.

UNHCR will ensure that the repatriation of IDPs is voluntary, and will promote alternative solutions such as local integration or relocation where needed. UNHCR will disseminate information on the situation in refugees' and IDPs' places of origin to enable them to make informed decisions on return.

As land and property disputes are a major source of conflict, the Office will support programmes to address them. Community-based conflict resolution and reconciliation programmes, as well as legal aid, will be provided.

UNHCR will transport returning refugees where necessary and distribute return packages. It will distribute non-food items to returning IDPs in coordination with UNICEF. The Office will also help to reconstruct the homes of returnees and contribute to the improvement of infrastructure. Furthermore, it will negotiate fee reductions to facilitate returnees' access to health services and education. Income-generating activities will improve the livelihood of returnees.

UNHCR leads the protection cluster and conducts rapid protection monitoring exercises to respond to human rights violations. Safe areas will be created for civilians and secure IDP sites identified. UNHCR will strengthen referral mechanisms to deal with sexual and gender-based violence and connect these to rule of law programmes. Campaigns to stop the stigmatization of victims of sexual and gender-based violence will be conducted in communities affected by conflict and in areas of return, and victims of such violence will be provided legal, psychosocial and economic support.

UNHCR will support the Stabilization Plan of the United Nations Missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) and advocate for humanitarian space where appropriate. It will also strive to mitigate the environmental impact of IDPs by relocating them to sites that are planned with environmental considerations in mind.

Constraints

The fragile security situation and difficulties in delivering humanitarian assistance due to poor roads, the landlocked character of most operational areas, and limited air transport, remain the main constraints for UNHCR in the DRC.

Organization and implementation

Coordination

UNHCR participates in the humanitarian coordination mechanism under the UN Country Team led by the Humanitarian Coordinator and the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of MONUC. These include the Humanitarian Action Group, national and provincial inter-agency committees, national and provincial clusters and the Implementation and Planning Teams that support the Stabilization Plan. UNHCR also supports the AMANI programme on peace, stability and development, set-up by the Goma Peace Conference and works closely with the Commission Nationale pour les Réfugiés and other relevant local authorities.

Financial information

The DRC's supplementary budget increased sharpely in 2006 due to UNHCR's engagement in IDP protection and assistance and repatriations of Congolese refugees from neighbouring countries. As the start-up costs for these operations were mainly covered in 2006, the budget slightly decreased in 2007. At the same time the refugee programme under the annual budget decreased due to the completion of the repatriation of Angolan refugees in early 2007. The overall increase in requirements from 2007 to 2009 is linked to an increase in return activities and the IDP programme.