The Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa's second largest country, rich in mineral wealth. However, it is also one of the world's poorest – having been ridden by conflict for much of the last 20 years.
Decades of instability, armed conflict and intercommunal violence have left millions of people at the mercy of IHL violations.
People have endured massive suffering, including displacements, separation from family, looting, abuses, injury or violent death.
"In 2016, DRC had 922,000 new displacements, the highest figure in the world, because of conflict and armed attacks, and yet the crisis received relatively little international attention." - IDMC Global 2017 report on internal displacement“
By the end of 2016, an estimated 6.9 million people were in need of urgent humanitarian assistance – including more than 4.2 million children. There are currently 3.8 million displaced from their homes inside the country.
Recent attention on DR Congo has focused on the Kasai region which comprises nine of DR Congo's 26 provinces.
Since August 2016, violence and unrest have torn the region asunder leaving thousands of fatalities in along the way. The health system is crumbling and violence has forced an estimated 1.6 million people to flee their homes.
Yet despite all this, the humanitarian situation in DRC continues to receive very little international attention.
The fact that the country had the highest number of new internally displaced people globally in 2016 has not made the headlines.
In the meantime, civilians continue to endure the consequences of armed conflict involving armed forces and groups, militias and factions while their protection needs remain largely unaddressed. DR Congo is one of ICRC's biggest operations in Africa - and one of its most underfunded.