Justice Under Pressure: Customary Justice Systems and Their Adaptive Role in Conflict and Climate Responses

Author: Jan Pospisil

Customary courts and customary authorities are critical to the administration of justice and the management of conflict in South Sudan. In most parts of the country, they still represent the most accessible and socially legitimate institutions for addressing disputes, including those involving serious violence. Customary justice operates in an environment marked by prolonged political transition and multiple pressures in a condition of limited state presence and weak systems of formal justice. These conditions have intensified demands on customary authorities while simultaneously reshaping the kinds of conflicts they are asked to manage.

This report from the IOM approaches customary courts as key sites of practice where questions of law, mediation, governance, and violence prevention are negotiated. The analysis focuses on two interrelated interfaces that structure how customary justice functions in South Sudan today. The first interface concerns the relationship between mediation and adjudication within customary courts themselves; the second lies between customary and statutory justice systems.