Tuesday, February 12, 2019

South Sudanese Refugees in Uganda: The Role of Customary Authority

The Rift Valley Institute recently posted a study dated 2018 and titled "Customary Authorities Displaced: The Experience of Western Equatorians in Ugandan Refugee Settlements" by Bruno Braak, Van Vollenhoven Institute in Leiden, and John Justin Kenyi, independent South Sudanese researcher.

The report examines the consequences of conflict and displacement on customary authority among refugees in Uganda from former Western Equatoria state in South Sudan. Various forms of non-customary authority proliferate in these refugee settlements, in some ways filling the gap left by the missing chiefs. Despite a general decline in the fortunes of customary authorities in Western Equatoria, and their near absence in the Ugandan refugee settlements, they remain popular among the region's people.