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UN PhotoGENEVA / DRC HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
STORY: GENEVA / DRC HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
TRT: 03:13
SOURCE: UNTV CH / OCHA
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT OCHA FOOTAGE ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/ NATS
DATELINE: 26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais Wilson
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
2. Wide shot, UN vehicle passing along road flanked by tropical forest
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“You know, people here have been through decades of trauma. And of course, the last few months have been particularly horrific for so many; so many displaced over 20 million people in need. And they are desperate for this conflict to end.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
4. Med shot, locals seated
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I think most striking today and yesterday has been the stories of sexual violence and sitting with women who tell horrific stories which, you know, are too horrific for me to tell, here, and who are trying to find the courage to rebuild their lives. We’re there providing that support to them, trying to help them rebuild, but they have been through hell.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
6. Wide, UN vehicle driving
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“Here in DRC, 70 percent of our programmes were funded by the American taxpayer; amazing generosity over decades. And now we're seeing most of that disappearing. And so, we're having to make brutal choices, life-and-death choices and for these women, the survivors of sexual violence, for the kids who told me they needed water, for the communities that told me they needed shelter, medicine, you know, these cuts are real right now, and people are dying because of the cuts.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
8. Med shot, Tom Fletcher listening to conflict-impacted communities
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“So, you feel the effect of the underfunding, you can feel that we're overstretched in terms of the needs being as great as ever, but we're having to prioritize a smaller number of people. And we're under attack; here in the DRC, we've lost twice as many humanitarian workers this year already as we did in the whole of last year.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
10. Med shot, Tom Fletcher with Bruno Lemarquis, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator, DR Congo, listening to communities
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We're out there working hard to get access to those communities, getting, trying to get the airport back open, trying to get roads open, trying to unblock checkpoints that are impeding our aid from getting through.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
12. Med shot, Tom Fletcher walking through village
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“You mention the NATO summit, you know, week before last in Geneva, I released the latest version of our Global Humanitarian Overview, where we have hyper-prioritized the 114 million lives that we could save this year if we get the funding and all we're asking for to do that is 1 per cent of what the world spent on defence last year.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
14. Med shot, Tom Fletcher visiting medical services tent
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I suppose the glimmer of hope in all of this is, yes, we can work in that more efficient and prioritized way and will do that; but also, the communities here who are basically they've come through so much and they are determined to support each other. They are the frontlines of the humanitarian effort.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
16. Med shot, villagers seen from UN vehicle window
26 JUNE 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Tom Fletcher, Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“I really strongly believe there's a movement out there that will back this work, that will support this work; we've got to find them. We've got to enlist them and we've got to show them that we can deliver for them. And, you know, I've not given up on human kindness and human solidarity. I've not given up on the UN Charter for a second. And this work is at the heart of it.”
OCHA FILE - PLEASE CREDIT OCHA ON SCREEN 25 JUNE 2025, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
18. Med shot, a baby receiving health care, medical tent
19. Various shots, Tom Fletcher visiting medical tent, Tom Fletcher and Bruno Lemarquis listening to community members impacted by violence.
The conflict-impacted people of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) urgently need much more international assistance than they are getting today, the UN’s top aid official said today (26 Jun).
Speaking to the press in Geneva from the Goma region, whose main city was overrun by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in January, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher explained that people had suffered “decades of trauma”.
The last few months have been “particularly horrific for so many,” he added, referring to the lawless fall-out from heavy fighting this year between the rebel fighters and the regular DRC army that has been linked to serious human rights abuses, including potential war crimes.
“Most striking today and yesterday has been the stories of sexual violence and sitting with women who tell horrific stories which are too horrific for me to tell here and who are trying to find the courage to rebuild their lives,” the UN relief chief said.
“We’re there providing that support to them, trying to help them rebuild, but they have been through hell.”
All those newly displaced by the M23 rebel advance are in addition to the five million people already living in displacement camps in eastern DRC.
Today, more than 20 million people need relief assistance.
“They are desperate for this conflict to end,” Fletcher continued.
A day after NATO Member States agreed to a five percent increase in funding for their collective defense, investment in the humanitarian work of the UN and its partners is at rock bottom.
In DRC, a full 70 percent of UN aid programmes was historically funded by the United States – “amazing generosity over decades” – Fletcher noted.
But today “we're seeing most of that disappearing”, he insisted, forcing the humanitarian community to make “brutal choices, life-and-death choices” about who receives help.
“For these women - the survivors of sexual violence, for the kids who told me they needed water, for the communities that told me they needed shelter, medicine, these cuts are real right now, and people are dying because of the cuts,” the top UN official explained.
Despite the difficulties linked to the protracted nature of the conflict in DRC and the massive needs, UN aid teams and their partners are “working hard to get access to those communities,” Fletcher insisted - “trying to get the airport back open, trying to get roads open, trying to unblock checkpoints that are impeding our aid from getting through.”
In an attempt to square the circle of the steadily diminishing amount of aid funding provided globally, Fletcher recently announced a “hyper-prioritized” plan to save 114 million lives this year. But that is dependent on receiving the necessary funding.
“All we're asking for to do that is one per cent of what the world spent on defence last year,” he continued.
After visiting and connecting with communities impacted time and again by the fighting, the top UN official insisted that they should not be forgotten.
“They are the frontlines of the humanitarian effort,” he said.
“I suppose the glimmer of hope in all of this is, yes, we can work in that more efficient and prioritized way and will do that; but also the communities here who are - basically - they've come through so much and they are determined to support each other.”
And despite rising antipathy in some countries towards international cooperation including the work and peace-promoting efforts of the United Nations, Fletcher insisted that reasons for optimism remain.
“I really strongly believe there's a movement out there that will back this work, that will support this work,” he told UN News.
“We've got to find them. We've got to enlist them and we've got to show them that we can deliver for them. And, you know, I've not given up on human kindness and human solidarity. I've not given up on the UN Charter for a second. And this work is at the heart of it.”
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