This article examines the public authority of chiefs’ courts within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians Sites (PoCs). After December 2013, UNMISS peacekeepers opened the gates of their bases to around 200,000 civilians fleeing war. This unintentionally created a legal and political anomaly. Over time, conflicts and crimes rose within the sites, and UNMISS improvised a form of administration. But while the internationals sought technical solutions, people displaced within the sites turned to familiar ‘customary’ methods to manage problems of insecurity, establishing chiefs’ courts. The PoC sites became an arena of plural authorities, with chiefs working alongside camp administrators, peacekeepers and humanitarian actors. We explore how and why the chiefs responded to insecurity within the sites and whether they engaged with, or diverged from United Nations actors and international norms. We demonstrate that justice remains central to the provision of security in contexts of war and displacement. International peace interventions are rightly wary of ‘customary’ justice processes that prioritise communities and families at the expense of individual rights, but this unique case shows that they are sources of trust and consistency that are resilient, adaptable and can contribute to human security.

中文翻译：

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联合国治理下的社区安全与正义：来自南苏丹酋长法院保护平民遗址的经验教训

本文考察了联合国南苏丹特派团 (UNMISS) 平民保护点 (PoC) 内酋长法院的公共权力。2013 年 12 月之后，南苏丹特派团维和人员向大约 200,000 名逃离战争的平民开放了他们基地的大门。这无意中造成了法律和政治上的异常。随着时间的推移，这些地点内的冲突和犯罪不断增加，南苏丹特派团临时采取了一种管理形式。但是，当国际人士寻求技术解决方案时，在这些地点流离失所的人们转向熟悉的“习惯”方法来管理不安全问题，建立酋长法庭。PoC 站点变成了多元当局的舞台，酋长与营地管理员、维和人员和人道主义行动者一起工作。我们探讨了酋长如何以及为何对站点内的不安全做出反应，以及他们是否参与或背离了联合国行为者和国际规范。我们证明，在战争和流离失所的情况下，正义仍然是提供安全的核心。国际和平干预措施正确地警惕以牺牲个人权利为代价优先考虑社区和家庭的“习惯”司法程序，但这个独特的案例表明，它们是具有弹性、适应性和可以促进人类安全的信任和一致性的来源。