United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)-Supported Mobile Court Begins in Maban

The Judiciary of South Sudan, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) are supporting the deployment of a mobile court to Bunj, Maban County.

The Maban mobile court, which began on 24 October, is expected to handle 63 criminal cases involving serious crimes, including murder and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

The mobile court will be led by the two new high court judges, with one of these judges having been permanently deployed by the Judiciary to Upper Nile State. They will assist the County Court Judge, recently deployed to Maban, to clear a backlog of cases, including some cases where victims have waited since 2020 for justice.

Decades of conflict, civil wars, and multiple crises have devastated infrastructure and displaced populations, leading to delays in justice for the most vulnerable populations who have the least access to redress.

The mobile court will utilize other existing Upper Nile judicial actors and prosecutors, investigators, and other police officers to conduct investigations of the cases under trial, present cases in court, and provide security to the judges and detainees. The deployment is expected to have a significant impact on access to justice, accountability for violence against women and girls, and prolonged pre-trial detention.

“Mobile courts assist the government of South Sudan deliver justice to South Sudanese citizens, strengthen the rule of law, reduce prolonged and arbitrary detention, and build trust in State institutions to provide peaceful mechanisms to resolve disputes,” said Anees Ahmed, the Director of the Rule of Law Advisory Section, UNMISS. 

The Maban circuit court is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Juba.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).