This article examines the public authority of chiefs’ courts within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians Sites (PoCs). After December 2013, UNMISS peacekeepers opened the gates of their bases to around 200,000 civilians fleeing war. This unintentionally created a legal and political anomaly. Over time, conflicts and crimes rose within the sites, and UNMISS improvised a form of administration. But while the internationals sought technical solutions, people displaced within the…

This report  (2011) summarizes the approach, methodology, results and recommendations of a recent study on the administration of justice for GBV cases in the customary courts of South Sudan. The study is not an attempt to document customary laws or an anthropological study on culture, but instead captures actual results and punishments for GBV, documents good practices, and explores areas of needed reform. Download

NUER courts and court procedure are an innovation of the Anglo-Egyptian government.’ It was a necessary innovation, according to administrators, because of the lack of institutionally authoritative figures among the Nuer, or of an ‘organised political body’ which met regularly, could enforce its decisions, and could therefore maintain public order.The government chose the parallel courses of tradition – administering a law derived from Nuer custom – and innovation – establishing institutions and procedures which were…

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