The Power of Practices: UN Peacekeeping Detention in South Sudan

ABSTRACT

This study of detention by United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in South Sudan shows how practices shaped the development of a new detention institution and its infrastructure. A first-of-its-kind qualitative analysis of the everyday of UN peacekeeping detention, the article examines life and work in the ‘holding facilities’ in the UN protection of civilian sites, which the officers dubbed ‘Guantánamo on the Nile’, due to ambiguities surrounding their work. The article conceptualises practice-driven institutional change and provides a granular account of the ambiguities and ethical dilemmas, which are part of the everyday of detention on the frontlines of protection and peacekeeping.

KEYWORDS:

• United Nations peacekeeping
• practices
• detention
• protean power
• protection of civilians
• South Sudan

Acknowledgements

It would not have been possible to tell the story of UN detention without the contributions of current and previous UNMISS staff, both national and international, and many other people working inside and outside the UN system. I am grateful for the trust they placed in me. Also, a sincere thank you to Rita Abrahamsen for her very useful comments on an early version of this article, to Naomi Pendle for her unwavering and generous editorial support and to Michael Barnett for his general support of my research in this field.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The SOP outlines the operating procedures but ‘does not itself confer authority on any field mission to undertake detention’; (UN 2021, 3) it is always the mission mandate, which authorises and conditions terms of the use of force.

2 See also Stefano Guzzini’s conceptual discussion of these dimensions of protean power (Guzzini 2020, 452)

3 Interview 30, IDP Former ‘holdee.’ In my research, I only managed to interview one individual who was detained in 2016. This account is based on the interview with this IDP together with corrections officers’ descriptions.

4 This was confidential, but general references were made to them in interviews.

5 These reviews were confidential, general references were made to them in interviews.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Carlsberg Foundation [Semper Ardens Research Project | 25/09/2017] and by the Danida Fellowship Center, Project Code 18-04-KU.

Notes on contributors

Anine Hagemann

Anine Hagemann (PhD) is a practitioner-researcher specialising in peacebuilding, conflict and mediation. She heads the UN policy division in the Department of Multilateral Affairs at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Prior to this, she was the acting director of the Center for Resolution of International Conflicts (CRIC) at the University of Copenhagen.