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This briefing note explores the interaction between gender norms of masculinities and femininities, and capacities for peace and conflict in areas that are receiving assistance. The aim of the research on which this publication is based on is to better understand how gender norms, including violent notions of masculinity and gender inequality in Greater Lakes State and Western Equatoria State may be affecting: the scale and the nature of conflict and violence; the roles played…

Small arms proliferation among civilians in South Sudan has long been thought widespread but there have been no reliable estimates of civilian weapon stocks to date. The deliberate arming of Southern communities during the first and second civil wars and the continuation of both authorized and covert conventional weapons transfers to Juba; illicit cross-border trafficking; and proxy arming of rebel groups by external actors has been extensively documented but not illuminated the scale of civilian…

This paper explores the cross-border attacks from South Sudan into Gambella in April 2016. Doing this it counters reductionist narratives of Murle communities and the role of Murle leaders. Download

The ‘If You are Safe, I am Safe’ strategy for South Sudan proposes to turn the desire for safety from a competitive conflict-causing endeavour to a co-operative peace-building endeavour.  Aimed initially at promoting peace between communities, it envisages an active role for both local administration and central government.  To do so there must be an understanding of the factors driving conflict, as well as those factors supporting reconciliation.

“Do not remain silent”: Survivors of Sexual violence in South Sudan call for justice and reparations, reveals aggravated acts of sexual violence against thousands of people across the country since hostilities began in December 2013. The report is the result of a joint research project between Amnesty International and 10 South Sudanese human rights defenders. Perpetrators come from both sides of the conflict, pitting the government forces of President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, against opposition…

This publication is a first step in enabling the humanitarian and peacekeeping communities to be better prepared for future protection of civilians (POC) sites. It reflects on the experiences of the POC sites in South Sudan, but is designed for humanitarians and peacekeepers working in other crises and at the policy level. It challenges actors to think critically about the complex issues that emerge inside and around protected sites. It provides suggestions and lessons that…

The scale and complexity of the current crisis in South Sudan challenges description. The advocacy of journalists and non-governmental organisations – whilst generally based on good intentions – often relies on statistical descriptors, explanations of ‘inter-ethnic violence’, and impersonal stories of victimhood which serve to flatten this heterogeneous emergency. In short, many of these current accounts actually tell us little about the many ways in which new South Sudanese refugees are striving to live in…

This briefing document of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification outlines the key findings on the food security situation in South Sudan. It projects that it continues to deteriorate with 6 million (50% of the population) estimated to be severely food insecure (IPC Phases 3, 4, and 5), in June and July 2017. This is the greatest number of people ever to experience severe food insecurity in South Sudan.   Download

This Issue Brief examines the failed peace efforts to end the three-year civil war in South Sudan and the subsequent spillover of the conflict across its borders into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Following South Sudanese independence in 2011, land reform became a major aspect of state building, partly to address historical injustices and partly to avoid future conflicts around land. In the process, land became a trigger for conflicts, sometimes between communities with no histories of “ethnic conflict.” Drawing on cases in two rural areas in Yei River County in South Sudan, this paper shows that contradictions in the existing legal frameworks on land are mainly to…

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