North Kivu: Mandatory police reporting before treatment, the rule driving rape victims away

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) denounced, in a statement published on November 2, 2026, measures imposed in North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, that prevent victims of sexual violence from accessing care. The organization points to the province's de facto authorities, the Front for the Refoundation of the Nation (FRN), formerly AFC/M23, and notes that these rules came into effect at the beginning of 2026.

According to MSF, a survivor must now report to the police before receiving care. Violence is only recognized if the person bears "visible signs of injury," and physical examinations that the organization describes as intrusive and medically unnecessary are required to prove the assault. Care is only available to those who present themselves within 72 hours of the incident.

Erased records

MSF states that forms imposed on health facilities, including its own, require the names and addresses of survivors as well as information about the alleged perpetrators. Healthcare workers have reportedly been threatened with suspension or even imprisonment if they do not comply; some have stopped working.

The figures provided by the organization illustrate the scale of the decline. In some facilities it supports, the number of people seeking such care dropped by 41% in August 2026 compared to January of the same year. In other structures, the number fell from approximately 80 victims treated each month in 2025 to only nine in 2026. Furthermore, dozens of consultation records have been erased, and several centers stopped logging them for months.

"A decrease in the number of reported cases does not mean that sexual violence is on the decline," said Akke Boere, MSF's director of operations, as quoted in the statement.

A need that remains undiminished

MSF, which runs sixteen projects in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, indicates that it treated approximately 45,000 victims of sexual violence in the DRC in 2024, and 53,000 in 2025. In the first half of 2026 alone, more than 19,400 people were treated in North Kivu.

The effects are felt beyond the hospitals. A manager of a local organization, who requested anonymity, explained to allAfrica that they had to rename a reintegration project intended for fifty victims of sexual violence to "fifty targeted women."

MSF says it has acknowledged commitments made by the FRN in October 2026, but notes that no corrective measures have been implemented. The organization is calling for official directives from health authorities and for care that does not depend on police intervention or judicial proceedings. No response from the FRN appears in the sources consulted. Radio Okapi relayed the alert on November 5, 2026.