South Sudan

Field Operation

South Sudan witnessed a fleeting period of peace after the signing of the Revitalised Peace Agreement in 2018. But recent intercommunal conflicts coupled with climatic shocks, such as unprecedented flooding, and economic shrinkages resulting from COVID-19 have reversed many of the advancements made and newly adds to the number of protection risks experienced by people. Opposition groups proliferate in the country with indignant violations of ceasefire agreements and undermine efforts to address food security, displacement, vulnerability due to climate change, lack of services and violence.

South Sudan has an agropastoral economy—the weak national infrastructure, governance and systems to cope with natural hazards is therefore striking at the root of people’s subsistence. It has triggered a cycle of displacement, with many unable to return home and those who are left behind, are landlocked without adequate access to humanitarian and protection services.

South Sudan

Protection Issues

Different parties to the conflict in South Sudan have often attempted to reach peaceful agreements. But these efforts have been short-lived—unravelled by intercommunal violence and attacks among ethnic groups. Daily inter-tribal violence over raiding of cattle, burning villages and shelters, kidnapping children for forced recruitment or girls for early marriages, are often coopted and mobilised by military and political groups, exacerbating political conflict and posing threats to civilian wellbeing. Most of the population can be categorized as poor, and with humanitarian access seriously compromised, they are left to fend for themselves in hostile environments. Women and girls are particularly at risk in the country.

South Sudan

Cluster Operation

The Protection Cluster was activated in South Sudan to ensure the coordination of protection interventions in emergencies and to respond to the protection needs of people affected by conflict and natural disasters. It is composed of the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Area of Responsibility (AoR), the Child Protection (CP) AoR, the Mine Action (MA) AoR and a Housing, Land, and Property AoR. The Protection Cluster is led by the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and co-coordinated by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

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The Protection Cluster South Sudan collects monthly data from member organisations on the delivery of protection services to people in need and displays the information on the 5W interactive dashboard below:

The Protection Monitoring System (PMS) in South Sudan is managed by the Protection Cluster and it relies on contributions by member organizations to collect data via a Key Informant Interview (KII) questionnaire at payam level across eleven thematic areas thereby monitoring the occurrence of protection violations, their scale and impact on communities over time.