South Sudan

Operational Environment

By the end of 2018, there will be more than 300,000 refugees in South Sudan, with an annual increase of 20,000 people due to natural population growth and the anticipated influx of Sudanese refugees into Unity and Upper Nile States. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is more than 1.8 million.

In 2019, the operational environment in South Sudan is expected to remain complex, despite the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict of the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in September 2018. Implementation of the peace process is yet to be applied consistently, and the National Dialogue declared by the President has not convinced all parties to make genuine efforts towards peace. The success of the peace agreement will determine much of UNHCR’s response and operations in 2019.

As a result of clashes, insecurity and outbreaks of violence, humanitarian actors will continue to face challenges in their efforts to reach people in need. Limited access, due to inadequate infrastructure and security concerns, will further complicate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in many parts of the country. Due to the remoteness of some locations in South Sudan, there are logistical and security challenges hampering UNHCR’s access to field locations.

Despite these challenges, South Sudan maintains an open door policy for refugees and UNHCR delivers its protection mandate and assistance to people of concerns. In 2019, UNHCR will continue to place an importance on strengthening partnerships and ensuring coordination with relevant stakeholders, including Government, NGO and UN partners. UNHCR and its partners will work to maintain a synergy and necessary coordination within the Clusters and with Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in accordance with the Refugee Coordination Model.

In 2019, support to the host community will remain one of UNHCR’s key priorities, and peaceful coexistence initiatives will be supported across the refugee locations.

Key Priorities

• Refugee response: UNHCR will continue to focus on livelihoods, youth programming and education; to prevent and respond to cases of SGBV and child protection; to support protection, self-reliance and pathways to solutions; as well as to strengthen social cohesion with host communities. Ongoing support will be provided to new refugee arrivals. The implementation of core protection activities will continue to ensure the identification and documentation of refugees. Continuous support to Refugee Eligibility Committee for the individual refugee status determination will also be provided. 

• IDP response: UNHCR will continue to search for solutions for IDPs in the protection of civilians (POC) sites, including further efforts to decongest the POC sites, ensure the protection of the 89 per cent of IDPs living outside of POC sites, as well as support voluntary returns or relocations. UNHCR will also identify, and respond to the needs of the most vulnerable IDPs, work and ensure transparent dialogue with host communities on sharing resources, search for solutions and maintain protection leadership through engagement in coordination,  as well as provide quality information and analysis of population movements. In addition, UNHCR will work with other humanitarian actors under protection cluster to find sustainable solutions for IDPs, as well as provide continuous support to the government to develop and implement a national legislation on IDPs to enhance protection and solutions for IDPs.
• Statelessness response: UNHCR will conduct training for the Directorate of Nationality, Passport and Immigration (DNPI) staff to assist them properly interpret and apply the Nationality Laws of South Sudan, as well as to increase understanding of the possible consequences of statelessness.