Per week, hundreds of victims and survivors of sexual violence leer care at well being centres supported by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In 2024 by myself, nearly 40,000 females had been handled by MSF teams in North Kivu province — a recount high. In January 2025, M23/Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) forces – backed by Rwanda – took administration of Goma, the provincial capital and residential to over a million of us, after years of battling towards the Congolese military and allied armed teams. Since then, the incidence of sexual violence has shown no indicators of reducing.
In the center of the most most valuable week of the offensive, hospitals fleet became overwhelmed by a surge in casualties, both defense force and civilian. Morgues crammed fleet as the Congolese military and its allies retreated, allowing M23/AFC to rob over as the fresh authorities in the metropolis. Heightened insecurity, elevated crime and rampant violence became the fresh current.
MSF teams proceed to recount alarming ranges of sexual violence cases. Between January and April, more than 7,400 victims and survivors of sexual violence obtained medication at Ministry of Correctly being services supported by MSF in Goma. West of the metropolis, in Saké, a further 2,400 victims and survivors had been handled steady during the same duration.
At some level of the week, female victims and survivors of sexual violence, of all ages, will likely be stumbled on gathering from early in the morning at well being centres the establish MSF works in Goma. They want healing, make stronger, and to be heard. Nasha* became among many sufferers to visit in Could per chance presumably. Admire a range of the females, her existence has been turned the other draw up by persistent warfare in North Kivu.
In the beginning from Masisi, a territory to the west of Goma, she fled forward of clashes in the province between 2021-2024. They moved to a displaced folk camp alongside some 650,000 others on the sting of Goma. But in February 2025, the M23/AFC armed neighborhood ordered the dismantling of camps, successfully forcing their residents to transfer away.
Astronomical numbers are unable to return to their home of foundation on myth of they lack the sources to realize so, or on myth of their lands were seized. This has led many to leer refuge with host households or in low-rate housing in Goma and the surrounding suburbs.
“I lived in the Rusayo displaced persons camp,” says Nasha. “After it was destroyed, we moved to the courtyard of a school where we built a shelter.”
“Armed men broke in one evening at 10:30 pm,” she continues. “They attacked me. When my husband tried to protect me, they shot him dead.”
Nasha’s memoir is far from spirited in Goma and its outskirts. On each day basis, sooner than nightfall, females saunter to the metropolis from the neighbouring territory of Nyiragongo in a instruct to attach stable – too normally in vain. Assaults on shelters, whether on itsy-bitsy plots of land, rooms rented out by Goma residents, or public areas, are frequent.
“In recent years, most rapes happened during daily activities – particularly when women left the displaced persons’ camps to search for firewood or to engage in small-scale trading activities,” explains Armelle Gbagbo, who runs females’s well being actions for MSF.
“Today, many attacks happen at sites where women are living – whether in a house or in a refuge – and particularly during the night when insecurity increases,” says Gbagbo. “They are attacked wherever: in their homes, with their families, alone, in the streets of Goma, or during outings on the edge of town.”
Nowhere is stable. Denisa*, a minor, is before every little thing from Rutshuru. She fled along with her family to Goma amid the M23/AFC come deeper into North Kivu about a months ago. In April, armed men broke into their home.
“They were wearing military uniforms and came to steal from us,” says Denisa. “I was with my dad, my brothers and my little sisters. The men ordered my family to leave and raped me.”
Not all sexual violence is dedicated by armed men, in defense force uniform or otherwise. Many assaults are also dedicated by these closest to the victims themselves.
“We shouldn’t discount the very significant proportion of sexual violence committed by family members, other members of the survivors’ entourage, or within host families,” says Gbagbo.
“The people of Goma have been gripped by fear since the city was taken,” says Frédéric Germain, MSF’s mission coordinator. “There is significant insecurity in the city.”
“Many criminals commit attacks, rapes and murders by night. A high availability of weapons mean that bandits and armed groups pose a constant threat,” says Germain. “The economy is slowing down, and the population is facing a system of violent predation.”
Sarah* also recently visited one of many well being centres in Goma. Her husband became recently kidnapped by men armed with rifles and machetes, who stormed into the itsy-bitsy home the establish she and her family had been staying after the camps had been dismantled.
“It was a few weeks ago and I haven’t had news since,” says Sarah.
Others around her recounted tales of killings, looting, kidnapping, and an identical compelled disappearances of fathers and brothers.
A fresh peep by Epicentre, MSF’s epidemiological overview centre, highlights a surge in violence in Goma, with the preference of violent incidents reported in the most most valuable six months of this year being more than 5 cases elevated than in 2024.
“The proportion of violent deaths recorded in this study is very high, representing one in four deaths,” says explained Dr Brahima Touré, an epidemiologist working with Epicentre. “Incidents of physical violence and verbal threats are also occurring in large numbers, as testified by the number of people witnessing such events.”
“The results show high levels of sexual violence, which are likely to be significantly underestimated given that in this kind of study on violence, survivors find it difficult to speak out,” says Dr Touré.
The offensive on Goma led many civil society figures to flee, with several humanitarian organisations working to make stronger sexual violence survivors and victims also leaving, in section attributable to the impression of American funds cuts.
“In Goma, we are practically the only association providing health services to these women,” says Germain. “But the needs are immense.”
After being attacked in Could per chance presumably, Angélica*, did no longer disclose heart’s contents to mates or family.
“I was ashamed,” says Angélica. “I didn’t know where to find help, so I stayed at home. After five days, I went to look for medicinal leaves to heal myself.”
“I felt very bad and had pain in my stomach,” she continues. “I met a community health officer who directed me to the CCLK health centre where MSF offers free care.”
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Among the many victims and survivors viewed by MSF, shut to 20 per cent are unable to leer clinical consideration within 72 hours of being attacked. This is a extreme window in which the administration of post-exposure prophylaxis medication can greatly decrease the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
“There is a high percentage of women suffering from STDs,” says Gbagbo. “This is also linked to the phenomenon of gang rapes or the practice of trading sex to survive.”
“Many women say they are sexually exploited by the people housing them in exchange for food or a roof over their head,” she says.
Congolese females are also struggling the consequences of the dismantling of the US Company for World Type (USAID) below the administration of Donald Trump. An instruct of 100,000 post-rape kits – which include medication for battling an infection from HIV and other STDs – that had been situation to be distributed to a pair of organisations treating sexual violence victims and survivors in eastern DRC became cancelled this year, with catastrophic consequences.
“In May, the United Nations Population Fund in North Kivu, which helped sexual violence survivors with support from USAID, only had 2,500 emergency kits for the entire province, while thousands of women are attacked every month,” says Gbagbo.
Sexual violence is no longer restricted to Goma or its suburbs. Victims and survivors saunter dozens of kilometres to leer medication in the metropolis.
“It is essential that other international partners step up to support these women,” says Germain. “Thousands are in need of urgent medical assistance.”
