Institutionalising an emergency response: ‘Protection of Civilians’ sites at UN bases in South Sudan as a way to deal with violence against communities
Kilroy, WaltORCID: 0000-0003-2247-5288 and Ryan, Klem
(2024)
Institutionalising an emergency response: ‘Protection of Civilians’ sites at UN bases in South Sudan as a way to deal with violence against communities.
Civil Wars
.
pp. 1-35.
ISSN 1369-8249
South Sudan’s civil war has since 2013 threatened the protection of civilians,
which UN peacekeepers are mandated to ensure. One aspect represented a
new challenge, due to its scale and rapid onset: more than 200,000 civilians fled
to UN bases across the country, seeking protection. This amounted to more
than a tenth of all internally placed people at one stage. The response by the UN
helped to save many lives, but created further dilemmas. Real problems were
also experienced, with attacks on these ‘sites’ and on peacekeepers. This article
analyses the significance of the phenomenon and how it unfolded.