[as delivered]
Mr. President, Excellencies,
Thank you for the opportunity to brief the Council on the strategic direction of United Nations Police (UNPOL) in the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) at a moment of ongoing political violence, constrained resources, and urgent protection needs. UNMISS is mandated to advance a multi‑year vision anchored in four core tasks: protection of civilians; creating conditions conducive to humanitarian assistance; supporting implementation of the Revitalized Peace Agreement and peace process; and monitoring and investigating human rights violations.
The political and security environment remains volatile underscoring the importance of an agile, integrated Peacekeeping Mission with unrestricted freedom of movement under the Status of Forces Agreement. Within this context, UNPOL’s approach is to protect today, while helping build a police service that can protect tomorrow.
In terms of our priorities for mandate implementation, firstly, UNPOL will sustain an active Tier‑2 Protection of Civilians posture — visible, deterrent, and rapidly deployable — through integrated patrolling with Formed Police Units (FPUs) and Individual Police Officers (IPOs) across population centers and emerging hotspots. UNMISS is planning to expand long‑range patrols to areas no longer served by permanent field offices and rotate UNPOL teams through Force company and temporary operating bases to maintain presence, to build confidence, and to shorten response times. To institutionalize a dedicated surge capacity, we propose piloting “Rapid‑Deployment FPUs” with police‑contributing countries, enabling short‑notice deployments into high‑risk locations alongside IPOs. Those capabilities would complement—not replace—essential fixed presences in various field locations.
Secondly, UNPOL will prioritize route security, conflict‑sensitive community engagement, and incident de‑escalation to sustain humanitarian corridors and secure movement for UN and partners. Denials of movement and administrative impediments to patrols continue to hinder protection efforts; the host country’s compliance with the Status of Forces Agreement is indispensable to saving lives. We will intensify joint civil‑military planning for air and ground mobility to reach isolated communities during the long rainy season, when roads and bridges are impassable.
UNPOL will provide technical assistance to the South Sudanese National Police Service (SSNPS) on public order management consistent with human rights standards, and community‑oriented policing that mitigates intercommunal violence. Moreover, on election-related policing, UNPOL, in line with the Mission’s political strategy on supporting elections, would also be ready to provide similar support to the national police. This includes strengthening capacity building on command-and-control, crowd management doctrine, evidence‑based operations, and information integrity measures to counter rumor‑ and hate‑speech‑driven violence, in line with A4P+ priorities on strategic communications.
Recognizing that sustainable protection requires capable national policing, UNPOL will drive a consolidated capacity‑building agenda with the SSNPS through the Police Professional Development Board — our platform to align all UN, agency, fund and programme inputs, avoid duplication, and maximize scarce resources. This model reflects A4P+ commitments to strategic and operational integration and cooperation with host countries.
And finally, women and girls in South Sudan face among the highest recorded levels of gender‑based violence globally; rigorous studies indicate that more than 65 per cent have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. UNPOL will help build the capacities related to survivor‑centered policing, expand women‑led community policing platforms, and reinforce specialized investigation and referral pathways with national counterparts. This is aligned with the mandate’s requirement for specific protection of women and children and strengthened responses to conflict-related sexual and gender‑based violence.
Mr. President,
South Sudan is nearly twice the size of Germany, with limited road infrastructure and long periods of seasonal inaccessibility. Even before current constraints, UNMISS could not be everywhere at once; we therefore prioritize population centers and high‑risk areas while extending reach through long range patrols and rotational presences.
Under the UN’s contingency planning, UNMISS has reduced its footprint — including the closure of some field offices such as Aweil at end of December 2025 — while maintaining patrolling from nearby bases to mitigate protection gaps. UNPOL’s rotational teams at Force operating bases are designed to offset some of these effects. Nevertheless, this still means doing less with less.
Recurrent constraints on UNMISS movement significantly undermine mandated tasks. This Council has previously called on the authorities to cease obstructing UNMISS and to respect its ability to use all bases.
The UN’s liquidity crisis has forced deep, cross‑mission expenditure cuts and hiring freezes, leading to a mandated 15% budgetary reduction translating into roughly a 33% reduction in uniformed and civilian personnel. Peacekeeping arrears and late payments have delayed reimbursements to troop‑ and police‑contributing countries, with cascading effects on readiness and deployment rotations. As a result of these cuts, for UNPOL in UNMISS, the operational consequences are concrete: Reductions in aviation hours, fuel, and movement support impede rapid reinforcement to conflict hotspots. Closures and consolidations of field locations, with associated staff reductions, stretch our ability to maintain consistent community engagement in hotspot areas. Hiring freezes and uncertainty around allowances for uniformed personnel hamper our ability to attract and retain special police expertise, including the women officers essential to effective protection and SGBV response.
Despite these constraints, our teams continue to deliver by readjusting its approach, guided by A4P+ commitments to capabilities, mindsets, integration, strategic communications, and accountability.
To preserve life‑saving effects while resources are constrained, we are implementing the following measures: We are concentrating IPO patrolling and their security in geo‑referenced hotspots prioritized by mission‑wide early‑warning indicators and humanitarian access needs. We are also systematizing rotational teams to COBs/TOBs, supported by integrated planning with Force and substantive sections, to sustain community contact, mediation, and patrol coverage where offices have closed.
Through the Police Professional Development Board, we are synchronizing all UN and partner police‑support activities to SSNPS priorities, focusing on public order management, investigations (including SGBV), and internal accountability systems. Moreover, we are expanding women‑led community policing units and survivor‑centered investigation capacity with the SSNPS, in response to persistently high GBV prevalence.
In this regard, we call for your support in ensuring compliance with full Status of Forces Agreement, including unhindered ground and air movement and the use of UN bases as operational hubs. Timely access saves lives. And lastly, support the piloting of Rapid‑Deployment FPUs and consider more flexible rotation models to widen the pool of specialized and women police officers able to serve, consistent with A4P+ goals.
Mr. President, Excellencies,
In conclusion, peacekeeping remains critical in South Sudan. While the 2018 Revitalized Agreement raised hopes of a post‑conflict trajectory, today’s realities on the ground demand that we protect civilians decisively while enabling national institutions to shoulder their responsibilities. UNPOL in UNMISS will continue to be field‑centric, mobile, and integrated—protecting communities, facilitating humanitarian action, supporting peace process deliverables, and advancing professional, accountable policing.
I thank you.
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Contact: UNMISS Spokesperson at unmiss-spokesperson@un.org