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Ajonye Perpetua

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Ajonye Perpetua Paya
Occupation(s)Lawyer, Politician, Women's rights activist
Known forLegal Affairs, Law Enforcement, Governance
Office
  • Justice First Class
  • Minister for Legal Affairs and Law Enforcement, Central Equatoria
  • Deputy head of Legal Drafting, Presidential Office
  • Chairperson of Central Equatoria Land Commission

Ajonye Perpetua Paya[a] is a South Sudanese constitutional lawyer, judge and human rights activist. Until 2013 she was a first class justice in the South Sudan judiciary. She assisted in drafting the 2005 interim constitution of Sudan. She served in the cabinet of Central Equatoria State in 2011, then in the cabinet of President Salva Kiir Mayardit, who dismissed her in May 2013. Since then she has held leadership positions in the South Sudan Law Society and has often spoken on civil rights issues including women's rights and gender-based violence. In 2023 she headed the Secretariat of the Judicial Reform Committee (JRC) of South Sudan.

Official positions

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Justice Ajonye is a constitutional lawyer.[1] She was appointed a first class judge in the Sudan judiciary.[2] The Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed on 9 January 2005 at the end of the Second Sudanese Civil War.[3] Ajonye was a member of the National Constitution Review Commission in 2005 and then of the Drafting Committee that prepared the interim Constitution of Sudan.[4] This was adopted on 6 July 2005.[5]

South Sudan gained formal independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011.[6] In 2011, Ajonye was Minister of Legal Affairs and Law Enforcement of Central Equatoria State in the government of Clement Wani Konga.[7][8] She was then appointed deputy head of the legal drafting team in the Presidential Office by a Presidential Decree dated 5 December 2011.[9] President Salva Kiir Mayardit referred to this as a cabinet position.[10]

On 7 May 2013, Ajonye and deputy Foreign Minister Elias Nyamlell Wako were dismissed by President Salva Kiir Mayardit, who had announced that he would no longer tolerate criticism by members of his cabinet.[10] There was speculation that the dismissal was due to disagreement over the way she was handling corruption allegations concerning some of the President's senior office administrators. She may have also fallen out with the presidential advisor for legal affairs, Telar Ring Deng.[2][b]

Republican Decree No. 34/2013 of 7 May 2013 also dismissed Ajonye Perpetua Paya as a 1st Class Judge.[12][2][9] The relevant legal processes for the judicial dismissal were bypassed.[13][14] The Fondazione Oasis described the dismissal from the judiciary as a "clear breach of the separation of powers".[15]

On 26 June 2013 Clement Wani Konga, Governor of Central Equatoria State, issued a decree appointing Ajonye chairperson of the state's new Land Commission, responsible for overseeing land policies in the State. Her deputy was Patrick Ladu Sekwat.[16] Ajonye was still Chairperson of the Central Equatoria Land Commission in April 2015 when she participated in a discussion on Is Forgiveness A Possible Route Towards Reconciliation in South Sudan?.[17]

In June 2016 Ajonye was Deputy Chairperson of the Law Society of South Sudan.[18] She was described as acting head of the South Sudan Law Society in September 2018.[19] In April 2021 she was still Deputy Chairperson of the South Sudan Law Society.[20] In April 2022 Ajonye was Acting Secretary-General and Vice President of the South Sudan Law Society, and legal advisor to the South Sudan Women Peace Security Monitoring Group.[21]

In January 2023 Ajonye was Head of Secretariat of the Judicial Reform Committee of South Sudan.[22] The JRC had been launched by the Government of South Sudan on 28 July 2022 to review laws, and to advise on judicial reforms and restructuring of the judiciary.[23] It was chaired by Lord Justice James Ogoola (Uganda) with deputy chair Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch (Kenya).[24]

Civil rights activity

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In June 2016 Ajonye spoke at workshop on The Role of Women in Peace-building: Lessons from South Sudan co-hosted by SALO and DIRCO in Pretoria, South Africa.[18] In June 2020, Ajonye expressed disappointment in the continued marginalization of women in regards to property inheritance in South Sudan.[1] In an interview with Eye Radio in June 2020 Ajonye spoke about the rights of the elderly duringt the COVID-19 crisis.[25]

In January 2022 Ajonye pressed the South Sudan government for action on gender-based violence.[26] She stated "We need holistic training on gender-based violence among police trainees so that when they are passed out, each police officer has an idea of what constitutes gender-based violence."[27] In March 2022 Ajonye said at least 5,500 cases of human trafficking had been reported in South Sudan in 2021, of which 824 were in Juba. Over 1,000 involved girls under 18 years old. The true number could be three times higher. She called for the government to be more active in preventing these crimes.[28]

Notes

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  1. ^ Ajonye is her surname, and Perpetua Paya her given names. Sources have erratic spelling, also giving her surname as Ajonge and her given name as Perpetuar, Parpetua, Paperture, Papetus etc.
  2. ^ In July 2013 Kiir dismissed his entire cabinet. He nominated Telar Ring Deng for Minister of Justice in the new cabinet, but in an unusual move parliament rejected this nomination due to concerns about Deng's integrity.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Women still face legal barriers to property inheritance - Justice Ajonye". 10 June 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Kiir dismisses legal aide over speculated disagreements", Sudan Tribune, 2013-05-08, retrieved 2023-09-25
  3. ^ "Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement". Peace Accords Matrix. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  4. ^ "SYMPOSIUM AT JUBA UNIVERSITY: 125TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR" (PDF), Embassy of India Newsletter South Sudan: 8, June 2016, retrieved 2023-09-26
  5. ^ Shinn, David H. (2015). "Recent Constitutional Developments" (PDF). In Berry, LaVerle (ed.). Sudan : a country study (5th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 228–229. ISBN 978-0-8444-0750-0.
  6. ^ Pflanz, Mike (8 January 2011). "Sudan referendum: what's being voted on and what will happen?". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  7. ^ "Central Equatoria State". Gurtong. Archived from the original on 18 September 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  8. ^ "COMMUNITY SECURITY BACKS SOUTH SUDAN FREE OF ARMS", Catholic Radio Network, 3 August 2011, retrieved 2023-09-26
  9. ^ a b Leaked Memo: Backstabbings and Political Intrigues within the SPLM, PaanLuel Wël Media, 12 December 2013, retrieved 2023-09-25
  10. ^ a b South Sudan, International Crisis Group, May 2013, retrieved 2023-09-25
  11. ^ Andrew Green (August 13, 2013), S. Sudan Parliament Rejects Kiir's Justice Nominee, Voice of America (VOA), retrieved 2023-09-26
  12. ^ General Salva Kiir Mayardit (7 May 2013), Republican Decree No. 34/2013 (PDF), Republic of South Sudan, retrieved 2023-09-26
  13. ^ Mark Atem; Wek Deng (5 July 2016), The Importance of Judicial Independence to the Administration of Justice: The Case of South Sudan, The Sudd Institute, p. 6, retrieved 2023-09-25
  14. ^ Chan, Wol Deng Akech (June 13, 2018), Comparative Analysis of Judicial Independence in South Sudan and India, p. 16, doi:10.2139/ssrn.3195316, retrieved 2023-09-25
  15. ^ South Sudan Crisis: the Bloody Price of Autocracy, Fondazione Oasis, 2014-01-29, retrieved 2023-09-25
  16. ^ MEDIA MONITORING REPORT (PDF), United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), 27 June 2013, p. 7, retrieved 2023-09-27
  17. ^ Is Forgiveness A Possible Route Towards Reconciliation in South Sudan?, The Sudd Institute & UNDP, 16 April 2015, retrieved 2023-09-25
  18. ^ a b "Women in Peace-Building: Lessons from South Sudan" co-hosted by SALO and DIRCO- 30 June 2016, Pretoria, Southern African Liaison Office, June 30, 2016, retrieved 2023-09-25
  19. ^ "A Discussion on Procedures of Arrest and Detention in South Sudan with Justice Ajonye and Ayak Mayol Ajol", Radio Miraya, 2018-09-24, retrieved 2023-09-26
  20. ^ Role of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan in advancing human rights, peace, and accountability, ACHPR, 29 April 2021, retrieved 2023-09-25
  21. ^ David Mono Danga (8 April 2022), "Women leaders welcomed the unification of the arms command deal", The Insider South Sudan, retrieved 2023-09-25
  22. ^ Final Minutes of the 27th meeting of the RJMEC, RJMEC, 2 March 2023, p. 3, retrieved 2023-09-25
  23. ^ Evelyn Edroma (30 August 2022), South Sudan's Judicial Reform Committee Heralds Hope for the Justice Sector, UNDP, retrieved 2023-09-25
  24. ^ Inauguration of JRC, key milestone in the implementation of the R-ARCSS, Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), 28 July 2022, retrieved 2023-01-02
  25. ^ Emmanuel Akile (5 June 2020), Interview with Justice Ajonye on rights of the older persons dusing Coved-19, Eye Radio, retrieved 2023-09-25
  26. ^ "Lawyers call for inclusion of GBV module in police curriculum". Nyamile.com. 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  27. ^ "Include GBV component in police curriculum: law body". Sudan Tribune. 22 January 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  28. ^ Hellen Samuel; Elsheikh Choi (31 March 2022), S. Sudan records over 5,500 human trafficking cases in 2021 - Justice Ajonye, Eye Radio, retrieved 2023-09-25
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