The Government of South Sudan has joined the “Commit to Grow Equality” initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) with a commitment to gender-responsive implementation of its National Land Policy, focusing on building the capacity of women’s organizations, strengthening the legal and policy framework, and increasing the capacity of government to monitor progress, including through collecting and using data and evidence on gender equality and women’s empowerment.  

Context

Since its independence, South Sudan has been experiencing long-running fragility challenges characterized by significant levels of poverty and food insecurity, lack of economic diversity, governance deficits, and weakened social cohesion. The country is also increasingly affected by climate chocks with limited coping capacities. South Sudan is ranked as second most vulnerable country to natural hazards and the impact of climate change globally, according to the 2024 INFORM Risk Index with the country being affected by recurrent natural hazards like floods and draught. The current political situation is characterized by a postponement of the elections and the extension of the current political transition to a period of two years (until February 2027).

South Sudan has been engaged in the land reform process since 2006 through the development of the National Land Policy and other relevant legislation (Land Act 2009, etc.). Land issues have been prioritized in the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan 2011 (as amended), in Chapter IV, 4.8.2 of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. The main objective of the policy is to expand and protect the land and property rights of the people, women and men, of South Sudan. The final draft of the National Land Policy was approved by the Government Economic Cluster on July 25, 2023, and adapted by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of South Sudan on October 27, 2023. The Land Reform Unit of the Ministry was also established under a Ministerial Order No. 005/2023. The National Land Policy is currently awaiting final approval by the Parliament. Its development and its focus on women’s land rights was informed by the country’s report on SDG 5.a.2, which the Ministry conducted with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 

Land governance is challenged by limited data, particularly on women's land tenure rights; limited capacity of local institutions to address inequalities in land access, ownership and control; incomplete laws and legal framework that do not adequately guarantee gender equality in land tenure and ensure women's equal rights to land ownership and control as indicated in SDG 5.a.2 legal assessments, lack of harmonization between customary practices, religious laws and statutory laws, particularly in relation to women's land rights, and limited targeted investments to support women and youth in accessing productive resources such as land, credit and extension services.

While the National Land Policy is currently awaiting parliamentary approval, the government has committed to FAO’s “Commit to Grow Equality” initiative to ensure its gender-responsive implementation focusing on the building the capacity of women’s organizations, strengthening the legal and policy framework and the capacity of government to monitor progress including through collecting and using data and evidence on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The land tenure system in South Sudan consists of public land, community land and private land.  Community land include all lands traditionally and historically held or used by local communities or their members. They are defined, held, managed and protected by law. The constitution recognizes the traditional authority, its institutions and courts application of customary laws including on land matters specifying roles and system of governance including on land matters

Customary tenure arrangements (often not codified, are applied orally) provide relatively high levels of tenure security as accorded by the constitution, and it exhibits high level of rural tenure security, with or without formal documentation to land. In these customary tenure arrangements, land is typically assigned to families and their descendants in perpetuity, in which identity plays critical role in defining one’s land rights rather than formal land titling. People belonging to a certain tribe have a right to access land within that tribes’ territory, and women access land through their relationship with a male member in the family of birth or in the family of marriage.

When it comes to securing women’s rights to land in the law, the principal legal and policy constraints captured in the Gender Assessment Report 2020 identified key issues impeding the realization of the rights of women to land ownership with analysis on the land related legal policy and frameworks that gives the citizens of South Sudan power to access and own land irrespective of their gender.^[1]  The assessment identified barriers to the land rights of women characterized by:

• Insufficient understanding of the legal plurality governing women’s land rights.
• Inappropriate mechanisms for the implementation of legislation,
• Limited awareness of women’s rights which impedes implementation of women’s accorded statutory rights.
• Exclusion or underrepresentation of women in land related institutions.
• Inadequate access to justice for women due to inefficient land dispute resolution mechanisms; and
• Limited coordination among land actors at all levels and organizations promoting women land rights.

Addressing the principal legal and policy constraints South Sudanese women face in owning and controlling land, the South Sudan Women Land Rights Agenda 2021-2030 is a work that sets out clear understanding about land governance issues and challenges in South Sudan with gender perspectives, and provide a road map for i) addressing structural exclusion of women from land sector policy processes and outcomes; ii) addressing the challenges posed by limited capacity and resources for advocating on women’s land rights; iii) improving mechanisms for implementing existing/development of new policies and laws that protect women’s land rights; iv) promoting institutional capacity for gender analysis, gender-responsive budgeting and programming among key land sector actors.

Commitments to women land rights

South Sudan is largely committed to regional and global instruments that protect women’s rights to land and property. The statutory laws of South Sudan relate to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which call for non-discrimination based on sex and calls on states to provide equal support on all sectors of society as well as enact laws and undertake measures that reduce discrimination against women to enhance enjoyment of social, economic and political rights, including the ownership of property. The provisions in the statutory frameworks of South Sudan also relate to Priority 17 of the African Union Agenda 2063 which focuses on attaining full gender equality in all spheres of life and the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 which focuses on achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls by 2030.

Commitments to the development and implementation of programmes, projects, or other organized and deliberate actions to avoid, reduce, and reverse land degradation at all scales. South Sudan has developed a National Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) strategic action plan that include enhancing capacities to strengthen tenure security and gender equality in tenure governance for LDN, aimed at addressing critical challenges in sustainable land management, emphasizing equitable access to land resources for marginalized groups, especially women, as a pathway to achieve LDN objectives.

In May 2024, the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development with support from FAO concluded a legal assessment process towards SDG Indicator 5.a.2 which assessed the extent to which South Sudan’s land and property related legal frameworks including customary law guarantees women’s equal rights to land ownership and or control.  Findings of the SDG 5.a.2 legal assessment in South Sudan unveiled strengths and weaknesses of the country’s legal and policy frameworks with regards to women rights to land as stipulated in the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan 2011 (as amended), the Land Act 2009 and the Local Government Act 2009, the Child Act 2008, the National Gender Policy 2013 and the South Sudan Women Land Rights Agenda 2021-2030 (a working programmatic document).

Good practices

Good practices in the baseline for South Sudan which is derived from the legal assessment include:

• Presence of the draft National Land Policy shows progress. It includes a government commitment to legislate for mandatory joint spousal consent for land disposals under all land tenure systems.
• Partial protection of women land rights in the Land Act 2009: Recognition of customary land rights and institutions, as well as women's rights to own and inherit land, preventing authorities and communities from denying these rights based solely on gender.
• Quotas are firmly enshrined in the Constitution, Land Act, and Local Governance Act ensuring women's participation in land management and administration bodies at all levels (County, Payam, Customary and Traditional Authority levels).
• South Sudan’s Women Land Rights Agenda 2021 (2021-2030) guides implementation and effectiveness of these quotas through collaborative efforts aimed to address potential challenges.

Baseline on the gender gaps in the legal and policy frameworks governing lands

South Sudan lacks a codified Family or Marriage Act, creating a legal gap. There are no provisions for automatic joint ownership of assets by spouses during marriage. Property effects of different types of marriages unclear.\Different types of marriages (common law and or polygamous unions) not formally recognized – property effects and inheritance remain unregulated.

The 2009 Land Act does not require joint titling for land jointly owned by married couples. While the 2023 draft National Land Policy identifies "legislating for joint spousal registration" as a priority, it lacks concrete steps like mandatory joint titling or financial incentives for implementation.

Neither marriage laws (which are not yet codified) nor the land law provide clear legal provisions requiring spousal consent for land transactions, including land governed by customary law.

A comprehensive law regulating inheritance rights for all heirs is currently absent. While the Child Act promotes equal inheritance rights for daughters, it doesn't guarantee an equal share of the estate for all children regardless of gender. The Constitution, Land Act, and Local Government Act acknowledge a surviving wife's right to inherit, but these rights are not equal to those of primary heirs.

As challenges, the key finding of the legal assessment are as follows: There is no Financial Support in laws or policies to drive Increased Women’s Land Ownership. The Revitalized Agreement (2018) promotes entrepreneurship for women but lacks specific provisions to increase women's land ownership or access to resources for land-based businesses. The National Gender Policy (2013) outlines strategies for rural women's empowerment in agriculture but lacks clear affirmative actions for allocating budget resources to support women’s land ownership in practice.

Limited Constitutional Safeguards for women land rights under customary law: The Constitution recognizes customary law and land rights, but it doesn't explicitly subject this recognition to the principle of gender equality. Unless laws are enacted that explicitly combat harmful customs that undermine WLR’s, discriminatory customary practices are likely to persist despite international human rights commitments.

The 2009 Land Act fails to establish a clear obligation for decision-makers and community members, including customary leaders, to actively respect WLR’s during land registration, land allocation, land management or land dispute resolution processes.

Target: advancing women’s land rights

The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development is fully committed to data collection and evidence-based policymaking to advance women’s land rights. With technical support from FAO, the government reported on SDG indicator 5.a.2 on women’s land rights and is actively working to ensure the successful implementation of the National Land Policy. A cornerstone of this effort is a gender-responsive legal and policy framework, informed by the SDG 5.a.2 legal assessment and best practices. It’s the government’s firm intention to utilize the assessment’s findings to strengthen women’s land rights, including in the implementation of the National Land Policy.

The Ministry will need to mobilize the requisite technical capacity and financial resources and bring on board all major stakeholders to agree on a structured process for implementation of the Policy. In particular, the Ministry will require the full cooperation of sector Ministries and agencies of government, state and local governments, and development partners (including UN agencies, bilateral donors, civil society, the private sector and research institutions) in developing a land policy implementation framework. In this connection, the Ministry shall:

i) Establish a Land Reform Unit, led by a coordinator to oversee the preparation of a Land Policy Implementation Strategic Plan through a participatory process that involves all key stakeholders at the national, state and local government levels as well as development partners.

ii) Develop and implement a Capacity Building and Communication Plan, for implementation of the Policy to support capacity development for relevant staff at national, state and local government levels, particularly on policy coordination, land administration and management, and land disputes resolution.

iii) Develop and implement a Resource Mobilization Strategy to generate the financial and other resources needed to implement the Policy. The strategy shall incorporate partnerships with NSAs to ensure adequate resources are mobilized and availed to state and local governments to enable them to implement the Policy.

iv) Develop and implement a Land Rights Education and Awareness Creation Strategy to develop and sustain public awareness and engagement with the Policy as a way of strengthening demand for reforms among the citizenries.

v) Develop and implement Land Policy Implementation Monitoring Strategy to facilitate ongoing monitoring, evaluation, learning to improve implementation, and;

vi) Review and update the Policy periodically to reflect changes in the political, social, economic and environmental context and integrate learning and fill gaps. The initial review of the Policy shall be done at the end of seven years from the date of its adoption.

The Policy has proposed the enactment of new laws to give effect to its provisions on strengthening the land administration system. Some of the new laws to be enacted for this purpose will include:

1. Community Land Act.
2. Public Land Act.
3. Land Registration Act.
4. Land Commission Act.
5. Physical Planning Act (incorporating town and county planning).
6. Land Survey Act.
7. Climate Change Act; and
8. Family Law (incorporating inheritance of land).