Refugee Rights Congo, Democratic Republic of the Project #57653

Documenting Refugees for peace in DRCongo

by Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity in DRCongo (COJESKI/DRC, Coordination of North Kivu

Project Report | Apr 8, 2026
A refugee document is crucial in order to survive

By Kulihoshi M | Coordinator

In a meeting with Human Rights Defenders

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,

Alerting UN Agencies about refugees in DRC

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Dec 14, 2025
Vedaste can now start a new life after getting his Refugee Identification

By Kulihoshi M | Coordinator

Vedaste one among active refugee community leaders

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.

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Aug 18, 2025
Supporting refugee management in DRC for Peace

By Kulihoshi M | Provincial Coordinator of North Kivu

Refugee awareness information session

The management of refugees as solution to wars and armed conflicts between DRC and Rwanda

We remain resolved to contribute to the promotion of peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo through concrete actions on issues around refugees. The effective management of refugees will end community conflicts in refugee host communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo especially open wars in different places over land ownership and land access mainly in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri. At the same time will ensure that refugees are no longer considered by Rwanda as a threat.

Identification

In North Kivu, while the Armed group of AFC/M23 backed by Rwanda arrested and deported refugees back to Rwanda on ground that they were members of FDLR (Rwandan Armed Group based in DRC), we documented the cases and wrote a clear letter to UNHCR showing that people arrested and deported back to Rwanda were vulnerable refugees and have nothing to do with FDLR, this contributed to the current put on hold of these deportations. In the same way we have addressed two letters to UNHCR Geneva, Rwanda, DRC and the United Nations Human Rights to prove us how refugees are considered as FDLR because we realized that Rwanda was misleading people on this issue, for the Government of Rwanda everyone who is a refugee in DRC and who does not want to return back to Rwanda is FDLR.

In North Kivu, we wrote a letter to UNHCR, DRC and Rwanda opposing the so called unilateral repatriation agreement focusing on Rwandan refugees in North Kivu and South Kivu, we also protested about the wrong number of 600 refugees in detention centers in Goma which UNHCR claimed transit centers, yet the number of refugees are more than 2,000 and requested UNHCR to end any form of forced repatriation.

In Uvira, South Kivu, we are working on helping authorities to know the numbers of refugees in this areas, in order to come up with an appropriate approach for their protection. We realized that a big number of refugees came from Burundi in 1976 up to now they have no documents and they are part of ongoing ethnic conflicts because they have to mingle with Congolese and acquire Congolese documents in order to survive.

In Kalemie, Tanganyika Province, we have also started the identification process and basing on the information in our possession, many refugees are in Kalemie and in Tanganyika without refugee documents and this has created a lot conflicts and confusion among people.

Lastly we are currently holding two Google Meetings per month to share information among Congolese and come up with ideas that can help to promote proper management of refugees.

Our activities are badly affected by the lack of funds in order to create a greater impact and provoke a debate at national level. For peace to be restored in DRC, we need to fully address the issues around forced migrants and promote their effective protection. This is our urgent appeal to you in order to save lives of innocent people who are killed yet we can fix and end these conflicts.

We remain the only ones who organized public activities on the World Refugee Day which focused on refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Activities where held in Goma, Uvira and Kalemie.

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