In a world saturated with breaking news alerts and endless digital noise, it’s easy to assume that the biggest crises are the ones we hear about. But sometimes the loudest emergencies are the quietest on our screens.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), nights are rarely quiet. They’re filled with the sharp crack of gunfire, the roar of people running for safety, the wails of parents calling out for their children.
But here in the UK – the crisis barely makes a whisper.
This year, new analysis revealed a startling truth:
- 7 million displaced.
- 27 million facing hunger.
- And barely a sound.
As Christmas approaches, we ask a simple but urgent question: How can a crisis this large go so unheard?
For millions of people caught in conflict, it’s another silent night. Not because peace has come. But because the world isn’t listening. We must act today.
Image credits and information
Chance remembers the day everything changed. She opened her small shop, greeted neighbours, prepared food for her family – an ordinary morning filled with ordinary hope.
‘I thought my life would be happy,’ she said. ‘To work with my husband, feed and educate our children.’
Then came the gunfire.
Soldiers looted her shop. Shouts filled the air. Chance made the brave decision to flee with her children to safety. They walked for days... tired and hungry.
Stories like hers rarely reach UK headlines. Yet they echo across every displacement camp and every community forced to flee – millions of lives unfolding in near silence.
Why does a crisis like this stay hidden?
The conflict in the DRC is long, complex and politically uncomfortable. It involves multiple armed groups, vast natural resources, international interests and decades of instability.
But complexity should never be a reason for silence.
This year, alongside Manifest, we've analysed more than 254,000 UK online news articles covering major global conflicts – from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan. The results were sobering:
Only 2.5% of coverage focused on the DRC.
A crisis that has claimed millions of lives (the deadliest since the Second World War) is, in our media landscape, almost invisible.
And when suffering goes unseen, it becomes easier for governments to delay action, for humanitarian needs to go unmet, and for families like Chance’s to remain trapped in a cycle of loss.
Image credits and information
Having witnessed first-hand both the extreme poverty and insecurity facing communities in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and their resilience, it’s deeply concerning how little attention the crisis in North and South Kivu is receiving from media and politicians.
This Christmas, we’re refusing to stay quiet...
Not Another Silent Night is both a warning and an invitation.
A warning that the world cannot continue to overlook one of the largest humanitarian disasters on the planet.
And an invitation to join a growing movement demanding visibility and action.
