Adam Day writes in IPI Global Observatory on research findings from a study he authored on lessons from the UN Mission in South Sudan. Below is an excerpt.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has had an enormous positive impact on the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese people. One of the most important issues concerning UNMISS is the protection of civilians (POC), which has created a dilemmas for the mission. As UNMISS now stands on the edge of another fragile peace process, it is worth briefly recalling the protection challenges it is facing. In 2018, I led a team of researchers part of the Effectiveness of Peace Operations Network (EPON) who conducted an assessment of UNMISS. We met with hundreds of people, often those who had been displaced or affected by the conflict in the country, along with a wide range of experts within and outside the UN. We asked them about the impact of the UN in country and how peacekeeping had affected the lives of the South Sudanese.
