Ajonye Paperture

Ajonye Perpetua Paya 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

Justice Ajonye is a constitutional lawyer. 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.

South Sudan gained formal independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011. In 2011, Ajonye was Minister of Legal Affairs and Law Enforcement of Central Equatoria State in the government of Clement Wani Konga. The Fondazione Oasis described the dismissal from the judiciary as a "clear breach of the separation of powers".

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. 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?.

In June 2016 Ajonye was Deputy Chairperson of the Law Society of South Sudan. 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.

In January 2023 Ajonye was Head of Secretariat of the Judicial Reform Committee of South Sudan. 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. It was chaired by Lord Justice James Ogoola (Uganda) with deputy chair Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch (Kenya).

Civil rights activity

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. In June 2020, Ajonye expressed disappointment in the continued marginalization of women in regards to property inheritance in South Sudan. In an interview with Eye Radio in June 2020 Ajonye spoke about the rights of the elderly duringt the COVID-19 crisis.

In January 2022 Ajonye pressed the South Sudan government for action on gender-based violence. 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."