Armed men have raped dozens of children in eastern Congo over the past weeks, UNICEF says.
It comes as rebels expand their footprint in the area and push government forces out.
The perpetrators were likely on both sides of the conflict, UNICEF said.
“In the North and South Kivu provinces, we are receiving horrific reports of grave violations against children by parties to the conflict, including rape and other forms of sexual violence at levels surpassing anything we have seen in recent years,” UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
“One mother recounted to our staff how her six daughters, the youngest just 12 years old, were systematically raped by armed men while searching for food.”
Between 27 January and 2 February, health facilities in the area reported 572 rape cases, Lianne Gutcher, UNICEF's communication chief in Congo, said.
That was more than a fivefold increase on the week before.
Of those treated, 170 were children, she added.
Armed men perpetrated the rapes but it was unclear what specific armed group or army they belonged to, Gutcher said.
“It is suspected that all parties to the conflict committed sexual violence,” she added.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are the most prominent among more than 100 armed groups vying for control of Congo’s mineral-rich east in a decades-long conflict that has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.
In late January, the rebels captured Goma, the region’s largest city, in a major escalation of the fighting.
Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council launched a commission that will investigate atrocities, including rapes and public killings committed by both the Congolese army and the M23 rebels in the region since the beginning of the year.
On Monday, 84 Congolese soldiers accused of murder, rape and other crimes in the country's east went on trial in the city of Bukavu.
The city is under control of the government forces but the rebel offensive has inched closer to it recently.
Congo's Health Minister Roger Kamba, meanwhile, said 143 patients who were being treated for mpox fled from Goma’s hospitals as the rebels pushed into the city. Some were found or came back on their own but 110 have not returned.
The minister said the city has also recorded nearly 100 cases of cholera since the rebel offensive started. Goma is now fully under rebel control.
Kamba added that Congolese authorities, with the help of aid groups, were able to send vaccines, medical supplies and medicines to Goma through a humanitarian corridor via neighboring Kenya and Rwanda. He did not provide details.
