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Today, the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index shows that the rule of law is declining globally.  How is U.S. rule of law doing? Take the quiz and find out! 

The rule of law has once again eroded in a majority of countries this year, including the United States, according to the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2023. In 2022, following four consecutive years of declining rule of law, the United States was among the top improvers. Last year’s gains were not enough to overcome the long-term decline since 2016, however, and this year U.S. rule of law took a downturn again.

The video for the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2023 ® will go live on October 25 at 10 a.m. EDT

To address the gaps in Nigeria’s fight against corruption, Transparency Information Technology Initiative (TransparencIT) launched the Trial Monitoring of Corruption Cases project in 2016. The project’s objective is to foster courtroom openness and galvanize citizen participation in judicial processes to promote accountability and advance the rule of law.

The World Justice Project (WJP) today hosted leaders from the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) for the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to work jointly on rule of law issues. 

As Ecuador looks ahead to next month’s runoff election, WJP spoke with Mauricio Alarcón Salvador, executive director of World Justice Challenge finalist Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo (FCD Ecuador), about the impact of current events in Ecuador on their work to improve transparency and accountability and on broader anti-corruption policy in the country.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic threatened efficient and expedient delivery of justice, the POS Foundation was quick to respond and adapt to such unforeseen challenges by suggesting the idea of carrying out virtual proceedings to the then Chief Justice of the Republic under the “Justice for All Amid COVID-19" initiative in 2020. This progressive reform underscored the program’s commitment to a more fair and efficient legal system.  

Join us live to learn what World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2023 will reveal about authoritarian trends, human rights, people-centered justice, and more. 

“What is the rule of law?” is one of 100 official civics questions that can appear on the U.S. citizenship test.   There are many ways to describe the rule of law, including the definition the World Justice Project formed in consultation with experts around the world. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it will accept any verifiably correct answer on its test. But its official study guide hones in on one fundamental rule of law principle. 

Thai government officials have signaled a desire to improve the country’s standing in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index. The development came at a multi-stakeholder convening focused on using data to set the rule of law reform agenda in Thailand. 

When the Khmer Rouge’s reign ended, Cambodia was left without law schools, courthouses, judges, or lawyers. Thirty years ago there were fewer than 10 lawyers working in the country.  Rebuilding the legal system posed a daunting challenge, but Karen Tse was up to the task. She trained the first 25 legal aid lawyers in Cambodia in 1994, including Ouk Vandeth. The two worked together to found Cambodia Bridges to Justice (CBJ), an offshoot of International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), which Tse had founded years prior.   

In July, the World Justice Project (WJP) joined its governmental and civil society partners to launch the groundbreaking Open Justice Metric before a high-level audience of public officials, media, and other stakeholders in Mexico City.     

In a passionate and well-received speech to the National Conference of Bar Presidents (NCBP), Luttig, an esteemed conservative jurist who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for 15 years and testified before the January 6 Congressional Committee, warned that “American democracy and the rule of law are in peril.”

In 2012, 23-year-old Jyoti Singh was gang raped and murdered on a bus in New Delhi. Motivated by this tragic event, ElsaMarie D’Silva created Safecity, a crowd map for capturing, tracking, and analyzing incidents of gender-based violence.

By 2021, the United States was among the countries with the sharpest deterioration in the rule of law. Declines in U.S. rule of law performance were roughly on par with those in Myanmar, Nicaragua, and the Philippines.   

In 2023, over 550 anti-trans bills were introduced in 49 U.S. states, and a record 79 laws have passed. These bills ban gender-affirming healthcare, restrict students’ rights at school, and attempt to erase trans people from public life.  

Globally, 1.4 billion people have unmet civil justice needs and fall within the justice gap. Now, WJP has broken the justice gap down into country-level estimates and analysis for 104 countries.