The crisis in the Greater Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is having a devastating impact on children, UNICEF warned today. More than 1.5 million children, including 600,000 who have already been displaced from their homes, are at risk due to the extreme violence. Instability in the region has led to a severe deterioration of the education and health systems, leaving many children exposed to the dangers of the conflict; whether it be joining one of the groups, being wounded without assistance, and separation from their families.
Within these groups of children, combating sexual violence and the recruitment by armed groups has been the focus of UNICEF. As the initiatives UNICEF put to work in the region started to provide data, it became clear the hardest group to reach were adolescent girls. As a result, UNICEF has decided to provide adolescent specific programs with partners like World Vision and Italian non-governmental organization AVSI. These programs include adolescent discussion groups – girls-only and boys-only child-friendly spaces offering informal education and a platform for adolescents to express themselves, be heard and learn from their peers.
Girls and women are often treated as though they have little value, the result of traditional mind-sets and sexual taboos, said Adele Nsimire, an AVSI facilitator. Girls are often responsible for all their family’s household chores, and they are frequently deprived of the chance to go to school, limiting their opportunities in life. But when girls- and boys-only groups discuss gender roles, early marriage, sexual violence, education, relationships and reproductive health, it encourages them to question and challenge discriminatory customs at the root of inequality and gender-based violence.
VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Natacha Ikoli reports on a programme helping adolescent Congolese boys become allies against sexual violence.
To find out more: https://www.unicef.org/protection/drcongo_61228.html
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