Publications
Land Governance Assessment Framework: South Sudan Country Report
SSLS | November 2014
This report was written nearly one year ago, a few weeks before a conflict erupted in Juba on 15 December 2013 and spread throughout much of the Upper Nile region. In the early days of the conflict, publishing a report about land governance hardly seemed like a priority. But a closer examination would have shown that a number of long-standing problems, including tensions over land, were among the factors that set the stage for the conflict. Since obtaining regional autonomy in 2005, the Government of South Sudan has struggled to establish functional land governance systems.
Transitional Justice Strategy for South Sudan
SSLS | September 2014
The core elements of this strategy were developed at a conference on transitional justice in South Sudan held in Nairobi, Kenya in August 2014. The conference, entitled, Towards a New Beginning: A conference on truth, justice and reconciliation in South Sudan, brought together more than 60 South Sudanese and international participants for three days of deliberations on what South Sudan could do to come to terms with the legacy of mass human rights violations in the country.
Truth and Dignity Commission: A Proposal to Reconcile the Many Truths of South Sudan from 1972 to the Present
David K. Deng | August 2014
This paper is the third in a series of working papers developed by the South Sudan Law Society (SSLS) to stimulate thought on issues of truth, justice and reconciliation in South Sudan’s peace process. The paper proposes the establishment of a truth commission, called the Truth and Dignity Commission, to investigate and report on patterns of human rights abuses in South Sudan from 1972, the date of the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement and the establishment of the first regional government in southern Sudan, to the present.
Challenges of Accountability: An assessment of dispute resolution processes in rural South Sudan
David K. Deng | March 2013
This report presents findings from an assessment that the SSLS conducted on the accessibility of local justice systems across six rural counties of South Sudan. The assessment included a comprehensive household survey that examined the legal needs of populations residing in the six counties and the legal services that are available to service those needs, in addition to numerous interviews with local justice service providers and users.
Handbook on Community Engagement: A ‘good practice’ guide to negotiating lease agreements with landowning communities in South Sudan
David K. Deng | April 2012
This handbook was prepared as part of a yearlong project on community engagement in large-scale land investments. Over the course of the year, from August 2010 to July 2011, the South Sudan Law Society (SSLS) held ten roundtable discussions with communities, companies and government institutions involved with large-scale land investments in South Sudan and the ‘Three Areas’ of Abyei, Southern Kordofan and Southern Blue Nile.
Community Engagement Fundamentals: From the South Sudan Law Society’s Handbook on Community Engagement
David K. Deng | April 2012
This pamphlet on Community Engagement Fundamentals is drawn from the South Sudan Law Society’s Handbook on Community Engagement. The practical tips and step-by-step instructions in these two documents can help companies to successfully negotiate lease agreements with landowning communities. They can help communities to prepare for the changes that come with high impact projects and more efficiently harness their benefits. They provide the government with a tool that can be used to promote responsible investment and sustainable development. Simply put, community engagement makes good sense.