Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), has raised concerns about the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), stating that forced marriages, prostitution, and recruitment into armed groups are increasing as children are denied access to education. Due to violent conflicts over the country’s natural resources, hundreds of thousands of children in the DRC have had their schooling disrupted. Many are forced to leave their homes in conflict-affected rural areas and end up in cities and communities where education is necessary for employment, which they have often missed out on. The lack of job opportunities makes it easy for the numerous militias in eastern Congo to recruit boys. For girls, the situation often leads to sexual exploitation, prostitution, and forced marriages. Egeland criticizes the international community for turning a blind eye to the crisis in the DRC, which he describes as the world’s most neglected crisis. He emphasizes the urgent and unmet needs in the country, with millions of people suffering from desperate needs and insufficient access to aid. The crisis has worsened in recent months, with extreme violence and widespread hunger. Over 25 million people struggle to find food every day. Despite the dire situation, it is difficult to get a response from world capitals, and funding for relief efforts is decreasing. Egeland calls attention to the fact that while Europe and North America are preoccupied with conflicts such as Ukraine’s war and former US President Trump’s actions, they have failed to notice the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the DRC. The article also provides information on the impact of the conflict on children’s education in the DRC, with approximately 750,000 children having their schooling interrupted in the two hardest-hit provinces in the east of the country. The overall situation in the DRC, its history, and the recent political developments in the country are also briefly described.
