Social issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo
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''The Democratic Republic of the Congo'' is a country located in central Africa.


Poverty

The Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) has one of the highest incidences of
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
in the world. And unfortunately it is still going on. DRC is #1 out of 11 top poor countries in the world (2014) At a rate of 71.34, its incidence of poverty is “extremely high”, even in comparison with other central African countries. However, this poverty is not evenly distributed. The
IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
estimates that poverty is more prevalent in rural areas (75.72%) than in urban areas (61.49%), while the provinces of Équateur, Bandundu and Sud-Kivu have a poverty incidence of over 85% compared to
Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...
’s 42%. The DRC’s high incidence of poverty is partly attributable to the
ethnic conflict An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's positi ...
that spilled over from neighboring
Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
and an ongoing civil war between government troops and rebel groups in Eastern Congo. The sustained levels of violence have caused massive infrastructural damage,
internal displacement An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced displacement, forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the Refugee#Definition ...
, and loss of property and lives. In 2007, the
International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 19 ...
estimated that 5.4 million people had died from the war and that another 1,250 continue to die each day from war-related causes. In order to reduce the levels of poverty in the country, the government embarked on IMF recommended reforms to improve its macroeconomic environment, initiate policies to support
economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...
as well as improve its provision of basic
social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...
. While the results have been mixed, the IMF notes in its 2010 report that Congo’s economic governance has improved, over 22,000 km of roads have been completed and “significant progress” have been made in increasing primary school enrollment from 64.1% in 2004 to 84.3% in 2008 and reducing
infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...
.


Sexual Violence

Sexual violence has characterised much of the violence perpetuated inyes Congo. Used as a tactic of war, the daily violations of women and children by armed groups have created a climate of fear and a reputation for the DRC as world’s “worst place to be a woman or a child”. Women from ages “six to eighty” have become victims and one statistic suggests that over 200,000 women may have been victimized over the past decade, while another notes that in some regions, as many as 40 women are raped every day. However, despite the massive scale of violence against women committed, the level of assistance that victims can expect in the form of medical care or post-traumatic counseling service is minimal to the point of non-existence, especially if one considers that only three practicing
gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...
s serve North Kivu, a province of over 800,000 people. Most of the rape shelters in the DRC are operated by foreign or international non-governmental organizations. But despite this intervention by the international community, supply has been insufficient to meet demand. In addition to
psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between t ...
and
physical trauma An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, ...
, rape victims bear socio-economic costs. For instance, the families of raped women are only paid a dowry price of two goats, if at all, as compared to the typical price of 20 goats. Consequently, raped women are often abandoned by their husbands whilst raped girls have difficulty marrying.Kristof 2010. Thus, in the context of the DRC’s patriarchal society, where women are dependent on men – first their fathers and later husbands – for economic support, their status as rape victims inevitably affects their economic well-being.


References

{{Democratic Republic of the Congo topics Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo