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Regional Overview
The humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a nation wracked by decades of conflict, is one of the most complex and protracted situations in the world. As of November 2022, some 5.5 million people were displaced within the country1, and over a million had crossed borders to seek asylum2. Most refugees from the DRC have remained within the African continent, with the majority being hosted by Angola, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. In 2023, newly-displaced refugees and asylum-seekers from the DRC will require urgent protection and assistance, while those in long-term situations – many having been hosted in asylum countries for decades – will remain in need of durable solutions and development support.
In many host countries, refugee settlements and camps have reached or exceeded capacity, and the available basic services are either stretched to their limits or too costly, affecting refugees and members of local communities alike.
Food insecurity is a growing concern as people struggle to afford necessities due to rising prices caused by high fuel and fertilizer costs, climate shocks, lingering economic issues from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impacts of the conflict in Ukraine on production and supply. The situation is aggravated by food ration reductions and other essential services cuts in camps and settlements due to funding shortages, which lead many refugees to resort to negative coping strategies and increases their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.
Some countries continue to promote an encampment policy, which reduces refugees' prospects of accessing employment and other livelihood opportunities. Other host countries have made reservations to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, placing restrictions on certain refugee rights and excluding refugees from essential services, such as public education. Incidents of discrimination and restricted asylum space in refugee-hosting countries, including instances of deportation, are continuously reported. This highlights the need to intensify efforts to promote social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, improve accountability, address prejudice, engage refugees and host communities in decision-making, and reinforce the protection environment.
The drivers of displacement in the DRC are expected to persist in 2023. The fragile socioeconomic context, severe food insecurity, instability due to threats from armed groups and intercommunal violence, human rights violations, development challenges, and tensions around the elections in the DRC scheduled for December 2023 will cause continued flows of refugees into neighbouring countries. Protection actors in the DRC record an average of 6,000 protection incidents per month, with a high prevalence of breaches of the rights to property and free movement, violation of physical integrity, and gender-based violence, which push more and more people to flee. Disease outbreaks and climate-induced disasters also put additional pressure on affected populations.
Throughout 2023, most refugees from the DRC are expected to remain in their countries of asylum, thus, local integration will be crucial in the response. Prospects for voluntary repatriation, however, have improved, with a small number of refugees returning home as of November 2022 (10,400 people were repatriated to Kinshasa and the southern provinces of Haut-Katanga and Kasai, near Zambia and Angola). In 2023, the voluntary repatriation of an estimated 4,300 refugees, mainly from Angola, Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, is forecast if conditions allow for a safe and dignified return. Resettlement will be promoted within the scale-up approach of the Government of the United States of America and other resettlement countries.
Many host countries have demonstrated commitment during the 2019 Global Refugee Forum (GRF) to keeping borders open for asylum-seekers, and refugees from the DRC are expected to continue benefiting from international protection in 2023. It is hoped that several new commitments will be launched at the 2023 GRF. Some governments – Uganda's being a key example – have adopted policies safeguarding refugees’ freedom of movement and other socioeconomic rights, such as the rights to work, establish a business, own property, and access national services, fostering opportunities for them to engage in the local economy. Other countries have made pledges to strengthen asylum spaces and improve refugee protection and solutions, promoting resilience and self-reliance among affected communities. In particular, GRF pledges by the Southern Africa Development Community Member States have been translated into a regional action plan aimed at improving asylum, reducing statelessness, and cultivating the economic inclusion of refugees.
In contrast, some host countries continue to impose restrictions on refugees' freedom of movement and on their rights to work, own land and property, and access education and justice. Refugee Response Plan (RRP) Partners will continue to advocate for the removal of these restrictions and for the adoption of policies that mirror good practices in the region, in line with the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR).
The DRC Regional RRP is a planning, coordination, and fundraising tool developed through collaboration among 69 humanitarian partners and the Governments of Angola, Burundi, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. In the spirit of the GCR and in accordance with the Refugee Coordination Model, host governments steer the provision of protection, assistance, and durable solutions to refugees, while RRP Partners, led by UNHCR, support and complement national and regional strategies, working closely with development actors and the private sector.
In 2023, RRP Partners will engage with governments to safeguard unhindered access to asylum and international protection and promote refugees' full enjoyment of rights. Partners will ensure all programming gives emphasis to considerations around age, gender, and diversity, accountability to affected populations, and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. Humanitarian assistance and access to basic services will be provided based on needs, in particular for new arrivals, but also for long-term refugee populations. Partners will also seek to promote refugees’ and vulnerable host communities’ economic self-reliance and resilience, in line with national development plans and with a particular focus on youth- and women-led initiatives and empowerment, to reduce dependence on assistance, foster social cohesion and peaceful coexistence, and promote socioeconomic inclusion. Lastly, policies and conditions that facilitate voluntary repatriation, resettlement, and local integration will be promoted. The revised position on returns to the DRC will serve as guidance to facilitate the granting of refugee status to new asylum-seekers from the eastern DRC provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu.
While a regional approach is being pursued, the exact scale and scope of activities may vary according to the context of each country's response plan. The 2023 DRC Regional RRP targets more than 1.5 million people – 916,300 refugees from the DRC and 584,600 host community members. The inter-agency financial requirements for the response are of $605 million for activities in seven countries.
Situation overview
The protracted and severe humanitarian crisis in the DRC is the result of a long history of conflict and violence characterized by forced displacement and serious human rights violations. Throughout the past few decades, the complexity of the situation in the DRC has only increased, compounded by a multitude of factors, such as struggles for power between different national and foreign actors (including over 100 armed groups), frequent flooding in some regions, high-impact epidemics like Ebola, cholera, and COVID-19, acute food insecurity3, and inadequate or absent basic infrastructure. Within this fragile and persistent context, displacement and humanitarian needs are expected to increase, impacting not only the DRC but also countries in the region. In addition, instability linked to the forthcoming elections, the resurgence of Mouvement Du 23 Mars (M23), and the scaling-down of MONUSCO could lead to a further escalation of internal displacement and refugee flows to neighbouring countries in 2023.
Over one million refugees and asylum-seekers from the DRC are hosted across the Southern and Great Lakes regions. The 2023 DRC Regional Refugee Response Plan (Regional RRP or RRP) details the inter-agency response in seven of these countries: Angola, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. Together, they host about 814,800 refugees from the DRC – Uganda alone received more than 93,800 new arrivals as of November 2022. People fleeing from North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri provinces in the DRC tend to cross the border towards Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania; those leaving Bas Ubangi (western region) mostly seek safety in the Republic of the Congo; and those escaping violence in the southern provinces of Kasai, HautKatanga, and Tanganyika tend to flee into Zambia and Angola. It is worth noting that some areas in the provinces of Haut-Katanga and Kasai have recently begun seeing a progressive stabilization of their security situation, allowing for 10,400 refugees from the DRC to return from Zambia and Angola.
The area encompassing these two regions remains one of Africa's most politically complex and unpredictable. High population growth rates, food insecurity, and deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, all exacerbated by rising prices of fuel and fertilizers, the COVID-19 pandemic, and by supply chain constraints resulting from the conflict in Ukraine, have put significant pressure on governments to deliver gains, address gaps on human development, and create opportunities for their citizens and refugee populations. Countries in these regions also remain subject to frequent disruptions linked to climate change (such as droughts and floods), which themselves result in food insecurity and loss of livelihoods. The possible shrinking of the asylum space in some countries, fragile economies, and extreme weather events are likely to impact displacement patterns; the regions may witness an increasingly significant presence of mixed flows of populations moving within the continent and en route to the Middle East and Europe.
All seven DRC RRP countries are parties to the 1951 Convention, have acceded to the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Problems of Refugee Populations in Africa, and affirmed the GCR. In alignment with these frameworks, certain host countries have pledged to strengthen their asylum spaces and enhance refugee protection and solutions, with some, such as Rwanda and Uganda, having adopted progressive refugee laws, giving displaced communities the right to work and access national services, including education, health, and banking.
In contrast, other States have maintained reservations to specific points in these legal frameworks and adopted restrictive legislations of their own, hindering refugees' self-reliance and enjoyment of their human rights: Zambia has four reservations to the 1951 Convention pertaining to freedom of movement and access to education, employment, and business opportunities, while Angola has reservations to seven provisions in the 1951 Convention related to access to employment and property and to the rights to association and reciprocity; additionally, Tanzania's 2003 Refugee Policy imposes restrictive measures on refugee livelihoods and establishes a strict encampment policy (although an agreement to ease restrictions was reached during a High-Level Bilateral Meeting between the Government and UNHCR in March 2022).
The GCR will continue to guide the work of RRP Partners and governments toward refugee inclusion, self-reliance, and resilience. Notable progress has already been made in this regard, particularly in Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia, where Governments have committed to working within the scope of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF). Governments in the region have also made pledges at the 2019 GRF that provide for improved conditions of asylum, enhanced protection environment, livelihoods and economic opportunities, access to services, and inclusion into national planning, among others.