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South Sudan + 2 more

IRRI submission to the APPG on Sudan and South Sudan: UK and International Engagement with South Sudan 2011-2014

Attachments

Summary

The International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) is responding to the call for information about the transitional period in South Sudan and the ways in which aid might have been targeted more effectively.

  1. While mindful of the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan that deserves the attention of the international community with a staggering seven million estimated to be at risk of hunger and disease, this intervention urges the UK government to ensure that it simultaneously maintains its focus on the crucial demands of state-building in the world’s newest state. If there is only an emergency response to the current situation without sufficient attention being paid to longer-term reconstruction, cycles of violence and displacement will remain unbroken and humanitarian assistance will be palliative.

  2. In light of that assertion, our intervention begins with an overview of general principles for engagement in South Sudan going forward. It then highlights three concerns – past and present – relating to our areas of expertise: first, the way in which the repatriation of South Sudanese refugees (post-2005) was organised by international humanitarian agencies emphasising the need for more flexible humanitarian policies; second, the issue of integration into South Sudanese society of Darfuri refugees highlighting the need for marginalised groups to be included in the future polity; and third, the need for more comprehensive solutions to the challenge of building civic trust, acknowledging the need to address the multiple layers of distrust that have built up not only over the past months but also over the past decades.