European Union Supports the Justice System in South Sudan to Boost Transparency and Fairness

A strong nation does not only need to have an independent judiciary but for its citizens to know that it exists, the European Union Ambassador to South Sudan has said.

Speaking at the official handover of the first ever Law Reports of independent South Sudan to the Judiciary represented by Chief Justice Chan Reec Madut on Monday 3 February, EU Ambassador Dr. Sinead Walsh said that publishing of Law Reports should contribute to transparency and access to information of South Sudanese citizens and contribute to instilling confidence of citizens in an independent judiciary in the country.

"The European Union is conscious of the many challenges that the country’s judiciary is facing, one of them being the absence of official Law Reports in the country.  Law Reports, in common law, are published records of judicial decisions in a country that can be cited by lawyers and judges for their use as precedents in subsequent cases. Law Reports are crucial for a strongly functioning legal system in any common law country," Dr Walsh said.

"For the full application of the principles of justice, equity, good conscience and judicial precedent, the common law system requires the public to have the ability to access crucial cases, and to understand a judge’s reasoning behind their decision. It is important that a country’s citizens know that their Courts represent bastions supporting the Rule of Law and that they will receive fair and impartial treatment before them."

In the framework of the Project “Strengthening the Rule of Law in South Sudan”, the European Union financially supported the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law from 2017 to provide comprehensive capacity building and technical legal assistance to the members of the Judiciary of South Sudan.

The objective of this support is to strengthen the capacity of the Judiciary, at all levels, to comply with their constitutional mandate to deliver quality and accessible justice in full compliance with the rule of law and to expand the legal education of judges. This support will continue in 2020.