| Overview : The Access to Justice and Rule of Law project was developed to contribute to the South Sudan Development Plan’s (SSDP), Conflict Prevention and Security Pillar. The SSDP Rule of Law Sector Objective is “to strengthen the Rule of Law in South Sudan by enforcing and maintaining law and order, providing equitable access to justice and a functioning criminal justice system, increasing security in communities and promoting and protecting human rights for all.” The project contributed to the 2012-2016 United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and country programme document (CPD) Outcome Five: “Access to Justice and the Rule of Law improves,” and contributes to the current Interim Coordinated Framework (ICF) Outcome 3: “Peace and governance strengthened,” and CPD Output 3.1: “Functions and capacity of rule of law institutions enabled to deliver accountable, effective and equitable justice services.” Following the signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS) in August 2015, the project was aligned with priorities to support transitory security arrangements set forth in ARCISS Chapter II, and the transitional justice mechanisms stipulated in ARCISS Chapter V. The project was developed in 2012 and is supported by the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, UKAID, USA INL, Germany and UNDP (core resources and BPPS/BCPR). UNDP’s Access to Justice and Rule of Law project supports rule of law institutions (Judiciary of South Sudan (JoSS), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Ministry of Interior (MoI) (South Sudan National Police Service (SSNPS) and National Prisons Service of South Sudan (NPSSS), traditional justice and community-level interventions through a sector-wide holistic approach designed to increase the availability, affordability, adaptability and acceptability of justice services in South Sudan. With the December 2013 crisis and the subsequent escalation of conflict in the country, the operating environment changed drastically. UNDP staff had to be evacuated because the volatile security situation following the events of 15 December 2013. Staff could only return in the second quarter of 2014 when the security situation improved slightly. This resulted in the reduction of UNDP’s field presence from nine (Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, Western Bahr el-Ghazal, Unity, Warrap, Jonglei, and Lakes) to five states (Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Western Bahr el-Ghazal). This geographic contraction was accompanied by a change in the UNMISS mandate, which removed most technical staff from the county level and many from the states, and saw the closure of the Rule of Law and Security Institutions Support Office (RoLSISO), Corrections Advisory Section (CAS) and Justice Advisory Section (JAS). These changes had a significant effect on UNDP’s ability to reach the more remote regions of the country, particularly those affected by conflict. The project was again affected by the crisis in July 2016, which saw violence spread through Juba, Wau, Bor, Torit and Yambio. Another evacuation of staff in Juba and the states caused further disruptions to programming. To effectively respond to these crises, UNDP’s programmatic support to rule of law institutions has been guided by the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) Programme Criticality AnalysisConflict Sensitivity Analysis and conformity to the United Nations Human Rights Due Diligence Policy (UNHRDDP). Notwithstanding the difficult operating environment, the project continues to provide technical and advisory support to the JoSS, MoJ, SSNPS, NPSSS, and civil society organizations (CSOs). Through co-located Chief Technical Advisors (CTAs), Rule of Law Officers (RoLOs) and Law Enforcement Advisors (LEAs), UNDP’s technical support aims to improve access to justice. |
