On December 24, 2013, the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, issued a resolution authorizing the increase of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) of “up to 12,500 troops of all ranks and of a police component, including the appropriate Formed Police Units, of up to 1,323.” The Security Council expressed “grave alarm and concern regarding the rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian crisis in South Sudan resulting from the political dispute and subsequent violence caused by the country’s political leaders,” and “call[ed] for an immediate cessation of hostilities and the immediate opening of a dialogue.” The resolution is a response to UN humanitarian investigators reporting the discovery of three mass grave sites in two different parts of South Sudan earlier in December 2013. Fearing a greater death toll, the increase in UNMISS troops is meant to provide more active protection to civilians.