Lauren is the Sr. Peacekeeping Researcher for CIVIC. She has four years of experience in refugee resettlement in Africa, where she was deployed to UNHCR offices throughout the continent to interview civilians fleeing conflict. Lauren has worked as a researcher for the World Peace Foundation, Conflict Dynamics International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Humanitarian Evidence Program at the Feinstein International Center.
By Lauren Spink and Daniel Levine-Spound On March 15, 2022, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which will guide the actions of peacekeepers over the next year. While mandate renewals can involve significant changes or additions to mandate language – the core…
By Lauren Spink The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan — known by its acronym UNMISS — has perhaps been most known for providing security to civilians inside protection of civilians (POC) sites in and around its bases. In October 2020, UNMISS began the process of re-designating the POC sites into camps for internally…
By Lauren Spink and Daniel Levine-Spound Between November and December of 2020, CIVIC carried out interviews with civilians and civil society leaders living in Bor, Juba, and Wau in South Sudan. Up until recently, the UNMISS bases in each of these locations hosted a Protection of Civilians (PoC) site. The sites were created in…
October 31, 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS). This resolution was the first of its kind to acknowledge that women are uniquely impacted by armed conflict and play an important role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. In recognition of the anniversary, CIVIC is…
As part of a broader research project on how the peacekeeping missions in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and South Sudan are analyzing and responding to CRSV, CIVIC assessed challenges to information-sharing between humanitarian actors and peacekeepers. We found that the Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) established by the UN can contribute significantly to improved information-sharing.
October 31, 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. This resolution was the first of its kind to acknowledge that women are uniquely impacted by armed conflict and play an important role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. In recognition of the anniversary, CIVIC is posting…
October 31, 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security. This resolution was the first of its kind to acknowledge that women are uniquely impacted by armed conflict and play an important role in conflict resolution and peacebuilding. In recognition of the anniversary, CIVIC is posting…
Supporting the implementation of mandated tasks through digital technologies By Lauren Spink UN peace operations need to employ new technologies to enhance their ability to implement their mandates more effectively in the complex conflict contexts where they are currently deployed and to adapt to changing conflict dynamics in the future. Of the 13 UN peacekeeping…
South Sudan’s revitalized peace process (R-ARCSS) has been largely elite-focused and has yet to yield real dividends for South Sudanese civilians. In this context, the United Nations peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is implementing a new program of work that ties together national support to the peace process in the country with subnational engagement on protection and peacebuilding.