Well, actually...they've been asking for help for awhile. At some point we as a global family can deal with why their cries have gone unheard, includi
Well, actually…they’ve been asking for help for awhile. At some point we as a global family can deal with why their cries have gone unheard, including the fact that larger traditional organizations have been pretending they don’t even know what a woman or girl is. Women and children living in high-conflict zones need more than our attention. They need us to respond with the best of our common sense, the fullness of our hearts, and a clear understanding of our shared humanity.
There are crises the world discusses constantly.
And then there are crises people somehow learn to speak about quietly.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has endured decades of conflict, displacement, exploitation and extraordinary violence against civilians. Through all of it, Congolese women and girls have carried a particularly brutal burden.
Sexual violence is not sitting at the edges of this emergency. It is inside it.
The numbers coming from the DRC are so enormous that there is a danger of reading them as numbers alone. We cannot do that.
These are women.
These are girls.
These are children.
Here are seven truths the world needs to know.
1. More Than 35,000 Cases of Sexual Violence Against Children Were Recorded in Just Nine Months
UNICEF reported that more than 35,000 cases of sexual violence against children were recorded across the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the first nine months of 2025.
That number deserves to be read again.
More than 35,000.
And UNICEF warns that even this staggering figure almost certainly undercounts what is happening. Fear, stigma, insecurity and lack of access to services prevent many children and families from ever reporting an assault.
This is not simply a wartime problem tucked away in one corner of the country. UNICEF found sexual violence against children occurring throughout the DRC, including outside active conflict zones.
2. Girls Are Carrying an Enormous Share of This Violence
Adolescent girls make up the largest and growing share of reported child Survivors.
In UN-verified data on grave violations against children during 2025, 589 of the 592 children subjected to sexual violence were girls.
Conflict creates precisely the conditions predators exploit: separation from family, displacement, hunger, collapsed institutions, unsafe roads, abandoned schools and weakened systems of protection.
Girls are living inside those conditions.
3. During One Period of Intense Fighting, a Child Was Reported Raped Every Half Hour
During January and February 2025, protection organizations in eastern Congo received reports of nearly 10,000 cases of rape and sexual violence.
Children represented an estimated 35 to 45 percent of those cases.
UNICEF calculated that during the most intense period of the conflict, reports amounted to approximately one child raped every half hour.
That does not mean every rape was reported.
It means the violence reaching organizations was already occurring at that horrifying rate.
4. Sexual Violence Surged as Fighting Intensified
When fighting escalated in eastern Congo beginning in January 2025, reports of grave violations against children rose dramatically.
Within about a month, reported sexual violence against children had increased by more than two and a half times.
Abductions increased sixfold.
Killings and maiming increased sevenfold.
Attacks on schools and hospitals increased twelvefold.
War does not merely put children near violence. It dismantles many of the structures that normally stand between children and people willing to harm them.
5. Women and Girls Are Being Subjected to Rape, Gang Rape and Sexual Slavery
The violence does not end with individual assaults.
The United Nations documented 1,534 Survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC during 2025, including women and girls subjected to sexual slavery, prolonged captivity and repeated rape.
Again, these are verified cases, not an estimate of every person harmed.
The UN has repeatedly warned that stigma, insecurity and difficulty reaching medical care mean many Survivors remain invisible in official statistics.
6. Reaching Safety Does Not Necessarily Mean Reaching Help
A woman can survive the attack and still face another emergency.
Can she reach a clinic?
Can she get emergency contraception?
Can she receive treatment that reduces the risk of HIV infection?
Can she receive care for injuries?
Can she obtain trauma support?
Can she seek justice without putting herself in greater danger?
In one week around Goma in early 2025, nearly 500 cases of sexual violence were reported, including more than 150 involving children. UNFPA cautioned that these represented only people who were able to reach care despite violence, disrupted services, fear of retaliation and stigma.
Survival should not depend upon whether a woman can somehow cross a war zone quickly enough to find an operating clinic.
7. The World Has Known About Congo’s Sexual-Violence Crisis for Years
Perhaps this is the truth that should trouble us most.
This is not a hidden emergency.
International institutions know.
Governments know.
Humanitarian organizations know.
Journalists know.
The United Nations knows.
Congolese women have been speaking.
Yet in 2026, the UN was still describing the DRC as one of the countries recording the world’s highest numbers of verified conflict-related sexual violence cases.
There is a particular kind of abandonment that happens when suffering is documented repeatedly without producing protection equal to its scale.
The women and girls of Congo should not have to become more brutalized to become more visible.
They should not have to produce another photograph, another testimony, another mass grave, another hospital record or another horrifying statistic before the rest of the world decides that their suffering deserves sustained attention.
Congo is not silent.
People have been speaking.
The question is whether the rest of the world has decided to listen.
And somewhere beneath all these enormous numbers is one girl who never asked to become evidence of a humanitarian crisis.
She deserved protection before she became a statistic.
Resources for Learning More and Supporting Survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The violence facing women and girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo deserves more than a moment of attention. If you would like to learn more, follow the work being done on the ground, or support organizations serving Survivors, these resources are a place to begin.
Panzi Foundation & Panzi Hospital
Founded by Congolese gynecologist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege, Panzi has become internationally known for caring for Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. Its holistic model combines medical treatment with psychological care, legal assistance and socioeconomic support.
Panzi Foundation Reports & Publications
For readers who want to understand the crisis beyond headlines, Panzi maintains reports and publications about conflict-related sexual violence, Survivor care and its holistic healing model.
Explore Panzi reports and publications
UNICEF Democratic Republic of the Congo
UNICEF documents what the conflict is doing to children, including sexual violence, displacement, recruitment by armed groups, attacks on schools and other grave violations. Its reporting is particularly useful for understanding the dangers facing girls.
Visit UNICEF Democratic Republic of the Congo
UNFPA Democratic Republic of the Congo
The United Nations Population Fund works with women and girls affected by conflict and displacement, including Survivors of gender-based and sexual violence. Its reporting also follows access to reproductive health care, maternal health services and Survivor support during humanitarian emergencies.
Visit UNFPA Democratic Republic of the Congo
United Nations Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict
For readers researching conflict-related sexual violence across the DRC and other conflicts, this UN office publishes reports, statements and documentation concerning rape and other forms of sexual violence connected to war.
Explore UN Sexual Violence in Conflict resources
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders
MSF provides medical care in areas affected by conflict in the DRC and has documented the extraordinary number of women and girls seeking treatment following sexual violence.
Explore MSF’s work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
A Note About Helping
Whenever possible, learn about and support organizations rooted in Congolese communities and organizations working directly with Survivors.
And remember that Congolese women are more than the violence committed against them. They are doctors, mothers, farmers, organizers, advocates, teachers, artists, leaders and Survivors. Many have spent years building systems of care and demanding accountability while much of the world looked elsewhere.
The crisis deserves our attention.
So do the women doing the work of surviving, healing and rebuilding.
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