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[Paris, October 30, 2025] Following the International Conference for Peace and Prosperity in the Great Lakes Region, civil society actors have welcomed the commitments made, but with reservations, and reiterated the need to strengthen the response to the humanitarian crisis in the DRC and the Great Lakes region as a global priority.
Early this week, Congolese and international organizations issued an urgent appeal for increased humanitarian funding, enhanced protection for civilians and respect for humanitarian principles, and safe, unimpeded access to humanitarian aid.
They were able to renew this call during today’s international conference through their various interventions. On this occasion, States also expressed their willingness to support peace efforts, humanitarian assistance, and safe, unhindered humanitarian access. This commitment was reflected in announcements of additional funding to address the vital needs of populations in the region and to promote a response that effectively links humanitarian aid, development support, and peacebuilding efforts.
These welcome announcements will only have an impact if they are swiftly translated into concrete and coordinated actions that truly benefit the affected populations.
Quotes:
Action Against Hunger – Florian Monnerie, Country Director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
“For months, for years, NGOs have been sounding the alarm about the dire humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly 28 million people are facing acute food insecurity, and one in two children suffers from chronic malnutrition. This is unacceptable. The Paris Conference offers a glimmer of hope and today places this humanitarian crisis back at the heart of the international diplomatic agenda. However, it is only tomorrow, on the ground, that we will be able to judge whether the words spoken today will have a real impact on people’s lives: whether all families can safely reach health centers to treat their malnourished children, whether all communities can return to their fields without fear, and whether we can continue our work without obstruction.”
Press contact: Ana-Lina Thoueille – athoueille@actioncontrelafaim.org
CARE DRC – Amadou Bocoum, Country Director, DRC:
“In Ituri, South Kivu, and North Kivu, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, as many speakers highlighted repeatedly during this conference — with the situation of women and girls being particularly alarming. Violence against women and girls continues to devastate communities. According to UNHCR, women and girls account for 51.1% of the internally displaced population, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen protection efforts. Yet, as of October 2025, only 35.1% of the Humanitarian Response Plan for Protection had been funded. Reports indicate that more than 67,000 cases of sexual assault were recorded in just the first four months of 2025. Despite aggravating factors such as insecurity and fear of reprisals, women and girls who manage to reach health facilities after surviving sexual violence face yet another obstacle: post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) kits are unavailable due to funding cuts.
The international community must act urgently to ensure comprehensive care and protection for these women and girls who face so many dangers in their struggle to survive. This can be achieved by increasing funding, which has declined and led to a severe shortage of adequate PEP kits.”
Press contact: Louis Ridon – lridon@carefrance.org | +32 47 42 98 961
CONAFOHD (National Council of Humanitarian and Development NGOs Fora, DRC) – Dr. De-Joseph KAKISINGI, President:
“The isolation of the cities of Bukavu and Goma, the closure of airports, and the suspension of USAID funding have led to severe stockouts of essential and strategic medicines—including antituberculosis drugs, antiretrovirals, antimalarials, oxytocin for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage, insulin, vaccines, and more. This situation has resulted in a rise in maternal and infant mortality (due to postpartum hemorrhage) and a resurgence of diseases previously under control, such as tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, diabetes, and epidemics. We are facing a true ‘ticking health and biological time bomb’. In the current context, local actors play a vital role in ensuring the continuity of humanitarian aid in the most remote and unstable areas, where humanitarian needs are most acute and where the security protocols of agencies and international NGOs prevent them from reaching. However, local organizations are increasingly constrained by restrictions imposed by conflict parties. They face threats, intimidation, and movement restrictions. Without direct access to quality funding, and without a free, secure, and accessible humanitarian space for local actors, it will become impossible to deliver humanitarian aid in the DRC.”
Press contact: Dr. De-Joseph Kakisingi, President – dejokaki@gmail.com; dejoseph@conafohd.org
FONGI (INGO Forum in DRC) – Luc Lamprière, Director:
“The Paris Conference sent an important signal: at least in words and pledges, international solidarity with the people of the DRC remains alive. The financial commitments — though some are in fact a recycling of past commitments — and the diplomatic declarations are welcome. Yet they will only have real meaning if they translate into concrete measures on the ground — starting with the immediate lifting of all administrative and logistical barriers that are stifling the humanitarian response.
As several states present in Paris emphasized, humanitarian aid in times of budgetary restraint must be uncompromising: every dollar held back by a tax on operations, by bureaucratic delays, or at a border post is a meal, a medicine, or a shelter lost for a displaced family, a doctor unable to treat, children kept from school. This is unacceptable: aid must reach the people who urgently need it; it cannot be held hostage along the way. Health crises, epidemics, and hunger recognize neither frontlines nor borders.
To protect humanitarian action is to safeguard its independence, neutrality, and impartiality. It also means recognizing and protecting local NGOs and Congolese staff — those who stand with communities on the long term but face growing pressures. This conference reminded us that the global humanitarian crisis is not only a funding crisis — it is also a crisis of meaning. Rethinking humanitarian response means building, together with affected populations and local actors, a future where emergency relief and development finally come together around dignity and stability. Peace, let us not forget, remains the first and most essential humanitarian good that people are calling for.”
Press contact: Luc Lamprière – representant@forumongi-rdc.org | +243 972 601 848
Human Rights Watch – Bénédicte Jeannerod, France Director:
“The Great Lakes conference highlighted the catastrophic situation faced by civilians in eastern DRC and helped push States to strengthen the humanitarian response, which is a positive development. However, to bring about a real turning point in the international response to the region’s conflicts, it is essential that the governments concerned take concrete action to protect civilians trapped in the fighting and subjected to a relentless series of serious abuses by the warring parties, and to put an end to the persistent impunity that has fueled atrocities for decades.”
Press contact: Léa Pernot – pernotl@hrw.org | +33 7 83 14 85 83
Médecins du Monde – Jean-François CORTY, President:
“In North Kivu, 15,000 survivors of sexual violence are waiting for care that no longer exists. Without access to emergency contraception or post-exposure treatments, these women and girls are condemned to suffer in silence. Médecins du Monde calls for immediate political and financial support to mitigate the devastating long-term health and social consequences.
In recent years, the Congolese health system has collapsed under the weight of the conflict in the Great Lakes region. Lacking medicines and equipment, and often inaccessible, health centers can no longer meet the growing needs of populations exposed to epidemics and violence.”
Press contact: Aurélie Godet – aurelie.godet@medecinsdumonde.net
Oxfam in DRC – Dr. Manenji Mangundu, Oxfam Country Director in DRC:
“Millions of Congolese men and women are waiting for concrete action. The Paris conference cannot settle for statements — it must unlock funding, ensure humanitarian access, and reaffirm respect for international humanitarian law. If the status quo continues, it will amount to punishing people who already feel abandoned and marginalized.”
Press contact: Louis-Nicolas Jandeaux – lnjandeaux@oxfamfrance.org | +33 6 49 15 58 60
SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL – Justine Muzik Piquemal, Regional Director:
“We call on the Humanitarian Reset (a United Nations-led initiative to improve the efficiency of humanitarian action) to support humanitarian workers in reaching populations in increasingly challenging environments without deprioritizing needs. It is essential that the risks faced by staff and their protection are made a priority issue to be addressed by the Reset.”
Press contact: Claire Morand – cmorand@solidarites.org | +33 7 85 42 56 99