As the UN Security Council debates renewing the mandate of UNMISS, the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, Human Rights Watch warns that the mission faces an existential threat at a time when civilians across the country are at acute risk of atrocities.

Budget cuts driven largely by the US withholding contributions have already forced the mission to shrink from 13,000 to 9,000 troops, close around 10 locations, and reduce protection patrols by 40 percent, with at least 40 human rights monitoring missions cancelled. Peacekeepers on the ground have warned there are now entire swaths of the country where they are effectively blind.

Meanwhile, government forces have conducted bombardment campaigns killing civilians, burning villages and committing sexual violence, while the South Sudanese government has actively worked to undermine the mission’s operations.

HRW urges Security Council members to maintain the mission’s full civilian protection mandate and calls on regional and international partners to push back against obstruction, warning that further degrading UNMISS would leave a devastating legacy for the UN system and for South Sudan’s civilians.