3 March 2015 - To help settle social disputes among displaced communities, a three-day workshop on conflict management was recently conducted at the UNMISS protection site in the Unity State capital Bentiu.

The workshop, organized by UNMISS Civil Affairs section, aimed to equip different categories of internally displaced persons (IDPs) with skills to help resolve conflicts in the site.

IDP categories included traditional leaders, civil society representatives, women and members of the Informal Mediation and Dispute Resolution Mechanism (IMDRM).

The IMDRM is a group of selected community elders who hear civil cases and determine how to restore unity between affected parties. The group tackles cases related to social conflicts like petty theft, but does not handle more serious crimes like murder, rape or assault causing grievous bodily harm.

Ruon David Kuol, a civil society organization programme officer said the workshop had given participants insights into managing conflict by developing relationships with communities.

“The workshop gave us confidence to solve problems by ourselves,” he said.

Women’s representative Nyaduop Nyang Gatjleh underscored the need to build their skills. “It is the women who suffer most because of conflict and building such type of capacity for women will enable us to recognize the role women will have in conflict management.”

Participants also discussed how traditional means of conflict management in Unity State could be applied to disputes in the protection site. One method discussed was the traditional practice of ensuring justice through compensation.

Following the discussion, participants agreed to hold another forum to discuss South Sudanese traditional practices and beliefs in contrast to rules and regulations of the protection site.

For example, when a man gets a woman pregnant outside wedlock, he is traditionally detained by local courts until he pays dowry. When such situations occur in the protection site, community leaders sometimes ask UN Police (UNPOL) to detain offenders, but this type of case lies outside the UNPOL’s jurisdiction.

Speaking at the end of the workshop, UNMISS Civil Affairs Officer Abdulbaqi Ibishomi said it was necessary to help counter tensions arising between communities and manage conflicts using traditional means, but without violating the South Sudan Transitional Constitution.

He stressed the need to find common ground between customary law, the country’s Transitional Constitution and protection site ground rules.

Mr. Ibishomi used the example of protecting children, which both the constitution and protection site regulations promote. He noted that neglect of children is also punishable under customary law.