Preamble
The preamble welcomes the establishment of the Republic of South Sudan and in customary UN fashion reaffirms its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and national unity of the republic. Even though, from the wording of the resolution, there is little governmental structure to be committed to. It recalls the UNSC Presidential Statement that affirmed that national ownership and responsibility are keys in established a sustainable peace. It also stresses the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to peace that tackles issues of political nature, security, development, human rights and rules of law. It deplores the persistence of conflict and violence in the region and notes that sustained cooperation and dialogue with the civil society is important in the context. It also recalls the importance of institution-building as a critical component of peacebuilding efforts.
The document moves on the underscore the need to coherent UN activities in South Sudan in cooperation with other UN relevant actors, such as the mission in Darfur, the mission in Abyei and the mission in neighboring Congo. It also emphasizes the vital role of the United Nations in supporting the national authorities in the efforts for the establishment of core governmental functions and in the recognition of the importance of supporting peacebuilding efforts. In that line, it underscores the importance of strong and well-defined partnerships among UN, development agencies, bilateral partners and other relevant actors. For that, it recognizes the need to broaden the pool of civilian experts to help develop national capacity and calls attention to resolutions that deal with children and women as it relates to armed conflicts.
It also recognizes the need for the Council to be flexible in adjusting the mission’s priorities and to support the protection of civilians and humanitarian and UN personnel in conflict. The preamble still acknowledges the importance of drawing on best practices as they related to other institution-building and nation-building efforts. It bears in mind previous agreement between the Government of Sudan and South Sudanese leaders to assess that the situation is still a threat to international peace and security. As other peacekeeping mission establishing resolutions, it acts under Chapter VII of the Charter.
Operative Clauses
The operative portion of the resolution decides to establish the UNMISS for an initial period of one year and consisting of seven thousand of military personnel and nine hundred civilian police personnel with troop level review in three and six months, aimed at a reduction to six thousand military. It welcomes the appointment of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Republic of South Sudan and request him to support a coherent international approach to a stable peace. Afterwards, it defines the long and broad mandate of the mission aimed mainly at consolidating peace and security as well as establishing good relations with its neighbors. For those reason, the mission is authorized to developed a myriad of task. It is authorized to provide support for peace consolidation in the forms of good offices, advice and support in the transition; promotion of popular participation in the political processes. It is also authorized to support the government in its responsibilities in conflict prevention, mitigation and resolution and protection of civilians, specially when it comes to exercising good offices, confidence-building; establishing mission-wide early warning capacity; covering reports related to human rights and threats against civilians; advising and assisting military and police of the new country; promoting the proactive deployment of patrols and providing security for UN and humanitarian personnel.
The UNMISS mandate also addresses issues of establishing national ownership for the new government in the country, for that the mission shall support the development of strategies for security sector reform; assist in developing and implementing a national disarmament, demobilization and reintegration strategy; work to strengthen the capacity of the local police force; support the development of a military justice system; facilitate the development of a protective environment for children and support de-mining activities. To pursue these activities, UNMISS is authorized to utilize all necessary means. The document also requests the governments of Sudan and South Sudan to implement an agreement on border monitoring and requests the mission to observe and report on the flow of personnel, arms and related materiel. It also demands that the government of the new republic to cooperate with the deployment, operations, monitoring, verification and reporting functions of the mission.
The document further calls upon all Member States to ensure the free flow of personnel and provisions that are for exclusive and official use of the UNMISS as well as humanitarian assistance. There is a demand that all parties immediately cease all forms of violence and human rights abuses against the South Sudanese civilian population. Afterwards, they call upon the government of the new republic to renew an action plan to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers and encourages it to ratify key international human rights treaties and conventions and the mission is called to advise and assist the government in this regard. It calls upon the government to take action to improve women’s participation in the political life and that the government combat impunity and hold accountable all perpetrators of human rights and international law violations. It also calls upon the local government to end arbitrary detention and to establish a safe, secure and humane prison system; further calls on the authorities to participate in regional coordination and information mechanisms to support disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts.
The resolution moves on the request that the Secretary-General take the necessary measures to transfer the appropriate functions from the mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to the UNMISS and to ensure inter-mission cooperation. It further requests the Special Representative and the mission to work with the local authorities to developed a plan for UN system support for specific peacebuilding tasks. It also requests the Secretary-General to report to the Council on the deployment of all mission elements and present benchmarks within four months, as well as to utilize opportunities for co-location of mission components and local counterparts to assist in building national capacity. The resolution also stresses the need for the international institutions to work closely with the government to ensure that the international assistance is consistent with the national priorities. It encourages the Secretary-General to explore the ideas for a civilian capacity building report as they could be implemented in South Sudan.
The operative clauses also request the Secretary-General to ensure full compliance by the UNMISS of the UN zero policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and to reaffirms the importance of gender expertise in the mission. It also requests the Secretary-General to take into consideration the needs of people living and affected by HIV. It further requests the Secretary-General and the government of the new republic to conclude a status-of-forces agreement within thirty days of adopting this resolution. It closes the resolution by deciding that the document will come into effect on July 9, 2011 and that it will remain actively seized of the matter.
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