Online Training Conducted for Legal Counsels of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of South Sudan

Max Planck Foundation provides training on the law of treaties

The Foundation, on 12 and 13 April 2021, successfully delivered a remote workshop for legal counsels of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in Juba, South Sudan. The workshop, titled, “Principles and Concepts of the Law of Treaties”, was the fifth conducted for the Ministry within the framework of the European Union-funded project, “Strengthening the Rule of Law in South Sudan”.

This two-day workshop, which was implemented via video conferencing, was conducted by Foundation Research Fellows in Heidelberg, Germany with thematic lectures and live discussion sessions, alongside supplementary text-based materials. The Honorable Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Justice Ruben Madol Arol, and a representative from the European Union Delegation to South Sudan, Sandra Zech, opened the workshop on 12 April 2021.

The workshop comprised content-based sessions and a final case study to allow participants the opportunity to practically apply the training content. The content-based sessions covered: the role of international treaties in public international law, the principles of international treaty law, the methods of domestication of international treaties, the application and modification of international treaties, and the application of international treaties in South Sudan. The workshop concluded with a case study session that invited participants to engage with a practical scenario on the Law of Treaties that related to the South Sudanese context. Many of the conversations surrounded key principles and concepts of the law of treaties, including the dualist and monist approaches to ratification, the suspension, and termination of a state party to a treaty, the rules on interpretation of treaties, enforcement mechanisms, and obligations and rights of third states.

The workshop was officially closed by the Managing Director and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Projects at the Foundation and the Deputy Director of Training at the Ministry of Justice, Honorable Serefino Simon Mizan. Much appreciation was expressed to the Foundation and to the European Union for their support in ensuring workshop delivery despite the current challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.