UNMISS-SUPPORTED MOBILE COURT BEGINS IN MABAN
BUNJ/JUBA, 26 October 2025 – The Judiciary of South Sudan, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) are supporting the deployment of a mobile court to Bunj, Maban County.The Maban mobile court, which began on 24 October, is expected to handle 63 criminal cases involving serious crimes, including murder and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).The mobile court will be led by the two new high court judges, with one of these judges having been permanently deployed by the Judiciary to Upper Nile State. They will assist the County Court Judge, recently deployed to Maban, to clear a backlog of cases, including some cases where victims have waited since 2020 for justice.Decades of conflict, civil wars, and multiple crises have devastated infrastructure and displaced populations, leading to delays in justice for the most vulnerable populations who have the least access to redress.The mobile court will utilize other existing Upper Nile judicial actors and prosecutors, investigators, and other police officers to conduct investigations of the cases under trial, present cases in court, and provide security to the judges and detainees. The deployment is expected to have a significant impact on access to justice, accountability for violence against women and girls, and prolonged pre-trial detention.“Mobile courts assist the government of South Sudan deliver justice to South Sudanese citizens, strengthen the rule of law, reduce prolonged and arbitrary detention, and build trust in State institutions to provide peaceful mechanisms to resolve disputes,” said Anees Ahmed, the Director of the Rule of Law Advisory Section, UNMISS. The Maban circuit court is funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Juba.
Notes to Editors:
The Maban mobile court will operate from 24 October to 21 November 2025. This mobile court deployment follows previous successful mobile courts in Malakal in 2023 and Renk in February 2025 and is being implemented in close collaboration with the State Government, the Judiciary of South Sudan, and the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.We hope your organizations can travel or work with media colleagues in these locations to cover this initiative.--Contact: UNMISS Spokesperson, Priyanka Chowdhury at chowdhury20@un.org or unmiss-spokesperson@un.org