Lessons Learned from South Sudan Protection of Civilian Sites 2013–2016

Lessons Learned from South Sudan Protection of Civilian Sites - 7
Foreword by Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons
On 9 July 2011, South Sudan became the world’s newest nation, invoking feelings of hope, pride and stability
among Southern Sudanese who had suffered through decades of war, famine and hardship. Tragically, less than
four years later, South Sudan is embroiled in another vicious civil war, internally displacing nearly 1.7 million
people. Millions live under the constant threat of violence, with limited access to even the most basic services.
When I was appointed to my current position as Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs), only eight months prior to South Sudan’s independence, I rejoiced with the world community in
the great optimism for the people of this new country. Only two and half years later, I was angered and saddened
by the renewal of warfare in South Sudan in December 2013. I had undertaken an official mission to South
Sudan in November 2013, approximately a month before the outbreak of the armed conflict. I was struck by
the absence of formal structures and systems for the protection of IDPs both on the part of the United Nations
Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Government of South Sudan. I had urged that these be established as
a matter of urgency but events took over in December 2013. I returned to South Sudan to undertake a working
visit to address the situation of IDPs in the PoC sites in September 2015 and received positive responses from
the leadership of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and the Protection Cluster.
As established by the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the 2006 International Conference of
the Great Lakes' Protocol, and the 2009 African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally
Displaced Persons, the primary duty to protect and provide assistance to IDPs rests with the national authorities.
Consequently, the vast majority of IDPs in South Sudan today are seeking protection from the government itself,
and yet its capacity to do so is severely constrained.
Therefore, I am enormously proud of the action taken by UNMISS for having opened their gates to protect
civilians fleeing the violence with nowhere else to turn. More than 100,000 people sought protection at UNMISS
compounds within the first six months of the conflict, and this figure doubled after the long “fighting season”
in 2015. It is an unprecedented achievement, in so far as conditions allow, for a UN peacekeeping mission to
provide protection for 200,000 people within their bases. Alongside the peacekeeping mission, UN and relief
agencies have proved indispensable by providing life-saving humanitarian services at both UNMISS Protection
of Civilian (PoC) sites and numerous IDP settlements throughout the country in which the majority of IDPs reside,
including in host families and communities.
This report takes a critical look at the protection of civilians in South Sudan and presents lessons learned during
the first two years of the conflict. The research brings to light challenges of the protection of civilians in a volatile
environment through the voices of more than 100 interviewees from UNMISS, humanitarian agencies and, most
importantly, the IDP community itself. My sincere hope is that this report leads to an open discussion among
key actors, improving the response and protection offered to IDPs in UNMISS bases. Ultimately, the primary
mandates of UNMISS and humanitarians are the same: the protection of civilians. It is critically important that
both work together toward this common objective.
I am pleased to provide the foreword to this report and trust it will be of practical assistance to UNMISS and
UN and non-governmental humanitarian actors. I am appreciative to the Government of Switzerland and the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) for their support, and, especially, to Michael Arensen for writing
this important report.
Dr Chaloka Beyani
Chaloka Beyani is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on
the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons. He is also
an Associate Professor of International Law, a member of the
Centre for the Study of Human Rights and Chair of its Advisory
Board, and a member of the Centre for Climate Change at the
London School of Economics and Political Science.