Max Planck Foundation Renews Cooperation with the South Sudan Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs

At the beginning of July 2018, the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan. The MoU was signed by the Rt. Hon Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mr. James Mayan Oka, on behalf of the Ministry and by Dr Kathrin Maria Scherr, the Head of Sub-Saharan Africa and Jordan Projects, on behalf of the Max Planck Foundation. The signing ceremony was attended by the Heads of the various Directorates of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

The Memorandum of Understanding envisages a cooperation between the Max Planck Foundation and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs within the framework of the project Strengthening the Rule of Law in South Sudan. This cooperation will involve a series of activities geared towards the provision of legal capacity building to the Ministry of Justice. Additional technical assistance will also be provided by the Foundation in the publication of the laws of South Sudan, as well as the enrichment of the legal library of the Ministry.

This cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan constitutes one component of the project Strengthening the Rule of Law in South Sudan (2017-2020), which is being implemented with the generous financial assistance of the European Union. The project aims to provide technical assistance and legal capacity building to key rule of law actors in South Sudan, including the Judiciary, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, and various other justice sector stakeholders. The overall objective of this project is to increase the understanding and ability of actors in South Sudan on key principles of the rule of law.