'The money I pay for my child's education is being used to buy weapons that destroy schools,' laments a father, his voice breaking with pain.
In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a chilling system is taking root in territories occupied by the RDF-M23-AFC armed groups, backed by Rwanda. In these zones where terror and impunity reign, schools - once the last refuge of innocence - are being perverted from their primary mission of education into funding sources for warfare.
Numerous parents report illegal taxes imposed by RDF-M23-AFC just to enroll their children in primary school. This practice brazenly violates the Congolese Constitution, which guarantees free education. The collected fees benefit neither classrooms nor school supplies. Instead, they fund weapons purchases which, in a tragic irony, are turned against the very children whose families paid these extorted fees.
A Double Burden on Families
Local communities bear a crushing double burden. They watch their children being denied dignified education while their meager resources finance massacres in their own villages. The methods employed by RDF-M23-AFC mirror those of the most radical terrorist organizations: forced recruitment of minors, large-scale atrocities, rape as a weapon of war, and systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Heavy International Sanctions
The RDF-M23-AFC movement operates openly. It already faces American and European sanctions for extreme violence against civilian populations. Washington and Brussels directly accuse the armed group of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. These restrictive measures target not only the combatants themselves but also certain Rwandan officials.
UN-Documented Violations
The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office has recently reported massive violations by M23: summary executions, forced displacement, widespread sexual violence, and village destruction. Detailed reports confirm the recruitment of child soldiers and systematic use of terror to control the civilian population.
Rwanda's Shadow
Behind these atrocities, Rwanda's role remains under scrutiny. Kigali stands accused of providing military, logistical, and political support to the movement, violating international law and Congolese sovereignty. Several human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have gathered damning evidence of this involvement.
Allowing this organized crime against a people's future to continue is no longer an option. The situation echoes historical patterns of colonial exploitation that we in Ireland know all too well. Education, the foundation of any nation, is being weaponized as an instrument of mass destruction against Congolese youth. Through extortion, the militias and their Rwandan sponsors aren't just financing war - they're murdering the very hope of a strong, independent Congo.
Today in the Democratic Republic of Congo, schools are no longer gateways to the future. Under RDF-M23-AFC terror, they've become death's dark coffers. And every franc extorted is another bullet in a child's body.