Reference :
V-P-CD-E-01193
Date :
30/08/2011
Caption :
South Kivu, Bukavu. Children separated from their loved ones by armed conflict or other violence aboard an ICRC plane: they are being taken to Katanga Province to be reunited with their families.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
This operation, to reunite more than 70 children with their families, was organized by the ICRC and the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo; it began at the end of August 2011 and lasted more than a week. Some of the children had not seen their families for more than six years.
ICRC website News Release 05.09.2011
Democratic Republic of the Congo: over 70 children rejoin their families
Kinshasa/Geneva (ICRC) – In two operations which took place on 29 August and 1 September, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reunited 74 children with their families.
Forty-five of the children had been separated from other family members as they fled armed violence; the remaining 29 were former child soldiers. Some of the children had not seen their families for over two years.
"The family reunifications are the culmination of a long-term effort," said Despina Spanoudi, who coordinates the ICRC's family reunification programmes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "The memories of the children, especially the younger ones, are rather confused, and in many cases the parents had been displaced a long way from their homes."
In searching for family members, the ICRC cooperates closely with the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its large network of volunteers. Without them, it would be impossible to carry out the work successfully. It is also necessary to identify and care for the children while the tracing work is under way.
In the first operation, an ICRC aircraft was sent to the provinces of South Kivu, Maniema, Orientale, Equateur and Katanga to pick up children and take them to where their families are now living, in Katanga, Maniema, North Kivu and Kasai-Oriental. The ICRC had to use various modes of transportation, including trucks, motorcycles and boats, to reach the families living in the most remote areas. In many cases, all the children in a family were reunited with their parents. The children, aged 2 to 17, were returned to their homes with various items such as mosquito nets and blankets.
In the second operation, a group of former child soldiers aged 10 to 17 were reunited with their families in the eastern part of the country. "It's a thrill for me to be back with my family and to go to school again," said former soldier Paulin, 10 years old. Before rejoining their relatives, the children underwent two months of training in a specialized facility, the Bureau du Volontariat pour l'Enfance et la Santé, to help ease their return to their families and home communities.
Since the beginning of the year, the ICRC has reunited with their families 145 children, including 12 from the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Republic of the Congo. Nearly 235 children who had been with armed forces or armed groups have also rejoined their families.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
3648x2736
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
