There's hope David Shearer's appointment to the United Nations will raise the profile of the conflict in South Sudan that has displaced millions of people.

The former Labour Party Leader and MP has been made the Special Representative for South Sudan and the Head of the UN Mission there.

The three-year civil war in South Sudan has forced more than two million people to flee their homes. The UN's Human Rights Commission said recently that "ethnic cleansing" was taking place and the stage was being set for a repeat of what happened in Rwanda in 1994, when 800,000 mainly Tutsis were killed in three months.

Tim and Helen Manson have been working for Tutapona, a Christian not-for-profit trauma counselling organisation, for nearly three years on the Uganda/South Sudan border.

Tim Manson is the organisation's Ugandan country director and said the war in South Sudan has been largely overlooked by international media, except for very recently.

"I hope that with a New Zealander in a position like that for the UN that there might be more coverage and more interest in what's going on," he said.

"One of my hopes is that, especially in New Zealand, the profile of this conflict will increase a bit. It's a war that's been largely overlooked by international media."

Shearer was given a standing ovation by both sides of the house in his farewell speech to Parliament on Tuesday.