Documenting Refugees for peace in DRCongo

Collecting information about refugees in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo

Recently we concluded our collect of information about the lack of documents to refugees in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo after organizing 7 various meetings with refugees in the city. We observed three categories refugees at the center of institutions: Refugees who have valid documents, refugees whose IDs have expired, and refugees who simply do not have documents generally because they do not have faith in the system which is managed by staffs who are suspected to collaborate with the countries of origin of these refugees.

On top of that refugees have explained to us that their IDs are not considered by government authorities and other actors in order to access services, which makes them difficult to function and struggle for survival activities. On the other side those without IDs are mostly rendered vulnerable because they cannot move and cannot do other activities in order to survive.

Why document is important to refugees

Refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo need documents in order to move from one area to another because the security services always ask for documents especially during this period of war in the eastern parts of the country, in order to communicate and buy a SimCard, in order to access to money transfer where an ID is required, in order to operate an activity among other services,

We have so far visited 6 Provinces in DRC and realized the same problem which is general to all refugees in DRC because they do lack protection. The lack of documents and the failure of the stakeholders to recognize refugee documents are part of the problems we need to solve but also we cannot do it alone that is why we need you.

We have started our activities here in Kinshasa by organizing some meetings with refugees, we have addressed one letter to the Prime Minister, we have visited twice the office of CNR and discussed with the protection team and more other activities are going on.

This projects will now focus of the following:

Advocate for the registration of all refugees in order to produce a clear statistics,

To create awareness to all stakeholders to respect and consider the recognition of refugee documents, including the private sector,

I’m Hakizimana Vedatse, a refugee from Rwanda living in the Democratic Republic of Congo now surviving because of the refugee document which we helped him to acquire.  

Hakizimana, one among refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for more than 30 years he could not move out of the city because he did not have the Refugee Identification Card.

During the genocide in Rwanda, I was 6 years old when we crossed into DRC, shortly in 1996 my both parents were killed when the Rwandan Army destroyed and burnt our Camp in Kivu. I managed to survive I do not know how, by then I was 8 years old. Surprisingly a Catholic Nun took me and placed me in a Congolese family where I grew up but also at certain point we separated with this family because of the war but I was already old. This family helped to study and reached senior six but I did not complete senior six.

One Day Vedaste contacted one of field volunteers who are always in different communities and shared his background, and then after collecting all the necessary information and getting in contact with people he said he lived with which took four (4) months of work, we then introduced Vedaste to the Congolese National Commission for Refugees which at first refused to register him, then we had to bring in a lawyer and then Vedaste was granted a refugee status.

This is some few words from Vedaste (I have lived in DRC since 1994 without document that shows that I’m a refugee from Rwanda, and I failed to acquire the Congolese Voter’s Card, so I have been limited in terms of movement, here in DRC you cannot move out of the city without a valid document, that is why I have never left this city. But now with my refugee document I’m free to move anywhere and in case I have a security problem I know people I will contact who helped me. I’m now working hard to get some money in order to start trading far especially in Mining Sector where I can get a lot of money. At least me, I’m safe now, but there are so many Rwandan and Burundian refugees in this city who do not have documents and are also affected, so please help them also.