UPPER NILE – In Renk, a town in the far north of South Sudan, a new mobile court has finally brought justice to a place where it has been absent for far too long.

Since hearings began on 30 January 2025, the court, supported by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), national and state judiciary, and international partners, has heard 60 cases, some involving inmates who have been detained in prison without trial since 2021.

Two High Court judges, deployed from Wau and Juba, convicted 42 offenders while 20 individuals were acquitted or had their cases dismissed. Thirteen convictions related to sexual and gender-based violence, with 10 involving child rape, including a three-year-old victim.

“If the accused man can’t accept the impact of what he did, he must go to prison. This is my belief, because I don’t know what consequences might be experienced by my child in the long-term,” says the mother of a rape survivor. “Even if he apologizes for his crime, something bad may happen to my child and I cannot afford the burden and responsibility for this. So, I say let him face the sentence he is given for his crime.”

Decades of conflict in South Sudan have devastated infrastructure and displaced populations, forcing communities to mostly rely on traditional courts. However, mobile courts are now providing a temporary extension of the formal judicial system, delivering justice directly to underserved communities, and reinforcing the rule of law where it is most needed.

“Since 2021, the Renk County Court has faced a lot of challenges due to the lack of a High Court Judge. Pending cases were rising, including murder, rape and drug abuse, and the prisons were very congested,” says prosecutor, Roufeita Zubeir Mohamed Nur. “The deployment of the mobile court is helping reduce the burden created by the delay of so many cases and ensuring that justice is delivered.”