NGOs Jointly Urge Member States to Address Food Insecurity and Civilian Protection in Lead-up to UN Security Council Debate

Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC), alongside 19 other leading organizations working to improve the protection of civilians in armed conflict (PoC), have published a joint statement ahead of the May 23rd UN Security Council Open Debate at the sixth edition of PoC Week. This statement calls for UN Member States…

New Report by the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34) Advances and Limits the Protection of Civilians

By Josh Jorgensen and Alison Giffen   Last week, the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (referred to as the C-34 and comprised of peacekeeping troop, police, and financial contributors) released their annual report. New language on the protection of civilians (POC), including on early warning, civilian harm mitigation, training, and community engagement helps align…

The UN Security Council Approves a Streamlined Mandate for UNMISS that Prioritizes Protection of Civilians in South Sudan

On March 12, the UN Security Council unanimously approved resolution 2567, which renewed the mandate of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). The renewal comes on the heels of a year in which subnational violence with links to national political rivalries increased, parties to the revitalized peace agreement failed to implement many of…

Engaging Local Populations as Partners in UN Peacekeeping

United Nations (UN) Member States have increasingly highlighted the importance of UN peacekeeping engagement with conflict-affected communities.[1]  The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated instability and exposed systemic inequalities in a number of UN peacekeeping contexts, emphasizing a new challenge of community engagement, while increasing the urgency of UN peacekeeping missions to engage vulnerable communities in safe…

#WPS20: CIVIC Joins 550+ Organizations in Calling on the UN and Member States to Prioritize Women’s Participation and Fully Implement the WPS Agenda

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. This open letter, available in Arabic, English, French,…