South Sudan's long crisis of justice: merging notions of socio-economic justice and criminal accountability

Schomerus, Mareike; Rigterink, Anouk S.

South Sudan's long crisis of justice: merging notions of socio-economic justice and criminal accountability

Schomerus, Mareike; Rigterink, Anouk S.

Authors

Mareike Schomerus

Dr Anouk Rigterink anouk.rigterink@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Contributors

Sarah M.H. Nouwen
Editor

Laura M. James
Editor

Sharath Srinivasan
Editor

Abstract

South Sudan’s peace agreements offer two versions of justice: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement includes justice as a description of a better future with more equality. The Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan focuses on justice as individual criminal accountability for war crimes. However, the South Sudanese demand for justice combines and goes beyond these two conceptions of justice. Using structured and openended interviews conducted in January 2014, the chapter argues that justice is used to describe holistic accountability. This means accountability is understood not as individual accountability for crimes, but additionally as holding leaders formally to account for failing to deliver socio-economic justice and equality, as evoked by the spirit of the CPA. It is a request of sorts to bring leaders to justice for their lack of collective social and economic responsibility in a system where elections do not function as a way to hold leaders to account.

Citation

Schomerus, M., & Rigterink, A. S. (2020). South Sudan's long crisis of justice: merging notions of socio-economic justice and criminal accountability. In S. M. Nouwen, L. M. James, & S. Srinivasan (Eds.), Making and breaking peace in Sudan and South Sudan. The British Academy and Oxford University Press

Online Publication Date	Dec 24, 2020
Publication Date	Dec 24, 2020
Deposit Date	Jan 28, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Dec 24, 2022
Book Title	Making and breaking peace in Sudan and South Sudan
Publisher URL	https://global.oup.com/academic/product/making-and-breaking-peace-in-sudan-and-south-sudan-9780197266953

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Copyright Statement
Making and breaking peace in Sudan and South Sudan edited by Sarah M.H. Nouwen, Laura M. James and Sharath Srinivasan, 2020, reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press https://global.oup.com/academic/product/making-and-breaking-peace-in-sudan-and-south-sudan-9780197266953;