Thirty community members affected by land disputes in Luri Payam’s Joppa area in Juba County last week received legal aid support during a two-day clinic aimed at addressing rising land-related cases.
The event included sessions on counselling, mediation, and documentation, helping to resolve disputes and curb illegal occupation and land grabbing in the area.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Friday after the completion of the two-day program, Grassroots Women Network (GWN) Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Khamis David said the initiative is part of ongoing efforts to strengthen access to justice and respond to the growing number of land-related conflicts affecting both displaced and host communities.
He noted that legal aid counselling seeks to improve land tenure security, reduce disputes, and promote the use of both formal and customary systems in conflict resolution.
According to David, land-related cases remain a major concern requiring urgent attention.
“Today, we are conducting a legal aid clinic for the community members who are affected by the land cases, as we are all aware,” he stated. “Cases of land are huge and need very special attention for the community at large.”
David noted that, beyond legal challenges, many affected individuals are also struggling psychologically due to prolonged disputes.
“It is good for us to conduct the community legal aid clinic for those who are severely affected. They are mentally disorganized, and we need to conduct these sessions so that they will be able to come back to their sense. You know, it is not easy to cope with life when someone is totally depressed, and stress alone is a disease,” he explained. “So, this session is good to at least make them come back to their senses, to give them hope, so that they gain strength, and they will gain the right. This session is very important for us. It is also important for the community.”
The clinic ran from 23 April to 24 April, with a total of 30 participants. David said the sessions ended successfully and generated several recommendations.
David credited the support of partners for the success of the program, highlighting the role of the Grassroots Women Network and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).
For his part, Lupai Emmanuel, a participant, said the program, especially the counselling session, gave participants battling land issues to have some sense of resilience.
“Every South Sudanese deserves the right to acquire land; however, it should be in the right way, not by oppressing the less privileged persons,” he said. “On the second day, we received some counseling, especially those having land issues.”
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