Max Planck Foundation Facilitates Third Workshop with Legal Counsels of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan
Following a direct request from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, representatives of the Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan, facilitated another three-day workshop, from 1-3 July 2019, entitled “Fair Trial Standards: International, Regional and Domestic Perspectives,” for Legal Counsels of the Ministry.
The workshop, which saw the attendance of twenty-four Legal Counsels from headquarters and from state legal administrations of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, was aimed at ensuring the extension of the training on principles of fair trials to a wider audience within the Ministry. The official opening ceremony featured remarks from the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan, Hon James Mayen Oka, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Hon Filberto Mayuot Mareng, who both highlighted the importance of this topic to the daily prosecutorial mandate of the Legal Counsels. The Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Projects of the Foundation also welcomed participants.
The workshop was aimed at not only familiarising participants with existing international, regional and domestic legal standards regarding the right to fair trial, but also at illustrating how various legal guarantees are enforced in practice within South Sudan. The technical content of the workshop focused on fair trial rights during the pre-trial and trial phases while exploring permissible derogations from fair trial rights. The discussions also reviewed select jurisprudence on fair trial guarantees from specific regional courts, as well as fair trial standards in South Sudan. At the workshop’s closing ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Hon Martison Mathew Oturomoi, again emphasised the importance of this topic to the work of the Ministry and extended his thanks to the European Union for funding the support from the Foundation.
This workshop was conducted within the European Union-funded project “Strengthening the Rule of Law and Access to Justice in South Sudan“, which has the aim to improve the rule of law landscape in South Sudan, thereby contributing to its development as a stable and peaceful country.