RCN Justice & Democratie an international Non-Governmental Organization with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium that has been operating in South Sudan since 2007 and has its’ office at Oasis Camp Site, Juba has previously implemented several capacity building programs with the Judiciary of Southern Sudan, the Ministry of Justice, the Police and the Prisons Service. The organization’s overall objective is to reinforce the rule of law in South Sudan through a functioning South Sudan justice institution. RCN Justice & Democratie is currently implementing a project titled “Support to the South Sudan Legal System by Enhancing the Capacity and Skills of the Ministry of Justice”. The training programme is a government led programme and only supported by RCN Justice & Democratie.
The RCN training programme of twenty (20) Legal Counsel from the Ministry of Justice Headquarter in Juba started on 8th August 2011 and ended with a graduation ceremony on Wednesday 19th October 2011 at Oasis Camp Site, Juba. The function was presided over by Hon. Paulino Wanawila Unango, Deputy Minister of Justice, Republic of South Sudan.
Also present at the ceremony was the Director of Training and Research, Hon. Christopher Laki Peter, Donors and implementing partners including USAID, CANADA, US Department of State/INL, European Union, IDLO, the graduands (trainees) and the media.
Hon. Wanawila during the graduation ceremony advised that Donors and development partners supporting South Sudan’s judicial system should develop training modules based on the English language. “As lawyers, you need to invest in books and develop a strong reading culture,” said Wanawila, while urging them to share skills learnt during the training with their counterparts.
The Head of Mission, RCN Justice and Democratie, Mr. Richard Odokomit Okot underscored the need to improve the country’s judicial system, and agitated for long-term training which calls for a continuous financial support from the donors, development partners and the National Government as well.
Hon. Christopher Laki Peter, Director of Training and Research, South Sudan Ministry of Justice, also appealed to the donors to focus on building the capacity of more than 410 law officers currently employed by the ministry. He further stated that as an independent nation particular effort must be exerted in building the capacities of our junior law officers particularly in the procedural aspect of the law.
Mr. Yuggu Edward Lado, one of the graduands, thanked the funders and organizers of the event but said that the training should cover areas such as company law and property law especially land law. He added that subjects offered in the training were; Introduction to Law, Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, law of Evidence and Professional Ethics & Skills.
