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 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.
On March 12, 2020, the mandate of the UN peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was renewed for one year. The new mandate—outlining what tasks the UN Security Council expects the Mission to perform over the coming year—is a cautious and compromise-filled document, which is what allowed the Council to achieve consensus on the mandate…
On December 19, 2019, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 2502, outlining a new mandate for the peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo—known by its French acronym MONUSCO. Changes to a peacekeeping mission’s mandate instruct peacekeepers on what shifts to make in their policies, activities, and operations on the ground. So, what…