Max Planck Foundation provides second training on the principles and concepts of the law of treaties
Following the Foundation’s successful implementation of the first remote workshop on the topic of the law of treaties, the South Sudan team implemented a second workshop for the Legal Counsel of the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs who are posted outside Juba in the various States. Delivered on 15 and 16 April 2021 and entitled “The Principles and Concepts of the Law of Treaties”, the workshop was the sixth workshop held for the Ministry of Justice within the framework of the European Union-funded project, “Strengthening the Rule of Law in South Sudan”.
This workshop, which was conducted over two days, was delivered through a combination of thematic lectures and live discussion sessions, with supplementary text-based materials introducing participants to important comparative instruments. The workshop was opened on 15 April by the Director for Training and Research, Hon. Kual Paul Deng and the Deputy Director for Training and Research, Hon. Serfino Simon Mizan, who also chaired both workshop days.
With a focus on the law of treaties internationally and within South Sudan, the workshop comprised of five content-based sessions and ending with a practical case study encouraging participants to apply previously covered thematic areas. The content-based sessions covered the role of international treaties in public international law, legal principles of international treaties, methods of domestication of international treaties, the application and modification of international treaties, and international treaties and their application in South Sudan. The case study session invited participants to engage with practical questions around the conclusion, ratification and enforcement of an international treaty in the South Sudanese context.
Participants were particularly interested in questions surrounding the formation of treaties, with regard especially to the methods of expression of consent to be bound, as well as the differences between monist and dualist systems of treaty incorporation and how these relate to the prevailing systems in place in South Sudan.
At the closing ceremony, speeches were given by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Justice Ruben Madol Arol, the Director for Training and Research, Hon. Kual Paul Deng, a representative of the European Union Delegation in South Sudan, Sandra Zech, and the Managing Director and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Projects at the Foundation. The speakers expressed thanks to the Foundation, as well as the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the European Union, for their efforts in enabling the conduct of this workshop series.