All News

As the year comes to a close, we look back at Justice Rising's top ten most popular blog posts of 2013. From the regulatory crisis in Bangladeshi factories to whether the rule of law indeed makes people happy, enjoy the best of the WJP blog.   

What do we talk about when we talk about the rule of law? Issues of security, accountability, and justice—to name but a few—affect people from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. As we scan global media for rule-of-law-focused news, we sometimes find WJP referenced in these important stories and debates. Following are recent mentions that caught our attention:  

The news broke on Saturday evening. FW De Klerk had just announced that Nelson Mandela would be a free man on Sunday. Throughout the country there were spontaneous celebrations as the nation prepared to receive the man most knew only through legend and whose only known images were outdated 1960s black and white photographs and artists’ impressions. That Sunday, the 11th of February 1990, South Africa was to take one big gigantic step towards liberation. Once he stepped out of the prison gates, there would be no turning back on the journey to freedom.

In July 2013, the World Justice Project dedicated the World Justice Forum IV in The Hague to Nelson Mandela, a man who more than any embodied the values, principles and goals of the WJP. At the time Mandela was lying in a hospital ward fighting the vagaries of old age and frailty and the world was united in prayer for his recovery. In characteristic Mandela fashion he fought on, refusing to shed his mortal coil. It took six months for death to finally triumph over his 95-year-old frame.

Urbanization is an inexorable trend of humanity. Human beings tend to congregate in always larger clusters and today’s megacities tend to grow in conurbations.    

An update from the Modelling Kivalina project, incubated with support from the WJP and developed by a multidisciplinary group of researchers called The Centre of the Earth. Learn more about their program here.    

For many Liberians living in the low-income, high-density neighborhoods of Monrovia, life is a daily struggle. Land disputes, drug problems, domestic abuse, and a lack of basic services, among other issues, are pervasive.

The World Justice Project (WJP) is pleased to announce the launch of the World Justice Challenge—an open competition designed to strengthen the rule of law. The competition provides an opportunity for individuals to identify areas where the rule of law needs improvement in the country in which they live or work and test practical solutions on the ground. Initiatives are supported by:

At World Justice Forum IV, the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General lead a consultation with Forum participants for the purpose of informing the UN General Assembly on the views of a wide range of stakeholders on the role of Rule of Law in Peace & Security, Development, and Human Rights. 

The United Nations designated October 11 as International Day of the Girl, with a focus on Education during the 2013 observance.  But as I read many well-written and strong feminist posts on this issue, the concerns of millions of girls with disabilities are missing from the dialog.  Who are the missing girls?  The deaf girl in India who attends a school for deaf children and who was raped by her teachers.

Gulalai Ismail set up Aware Girls at the mere age of 16 when she realized that women and girls needed a platform to voice their rights. It has been 10 years since the establishment of Aware Girls, and Gulalai is continuing to expand her programs in areas such as southwestern Baluchistsan and Afghanistan, where it is still a challenge for women and girls to study and access justice.

Team Leader of The GUERREIRASPROJECT (GP), Ms. Caitlin D. Fisher was a speaker on the “Sport and the Rule of Law” panel during World Justice Forum IV. Focusing on gender education and rights training through the lens of futebol, The GUERREIRASPROJECT’s primary demographic is young women (15-35) and their communities.

At the age of 101, Dr. Starr is a living legend. He has been a life-long advocate for law-related education, first integrating law into his high school civics class in 1934. Dr. Starr is a well-respected educator, academic, and lawyer, but he is probably most known for inspiring many to consider the importance of law-related education (his passion for the subject is contagious).

At World Justice Forum IV, WJP Board of Directors member Mondli Makhanya ended the week's events with a reading of the Closing Declaration. Mr Makhanya also delivered a moving tribute to Nelson Mandela, highlighting his legacy of service in advancing the rule of law both at home in South Africa and in the world at large. 

At World Justice Forum IV, Zsuzsanna Lonti, Head of Unit Statistics and Indicators for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), WJP Executive Director Juan Botero, and WJP Chief Research Officer Dr. Alejandro Ponce discussed global rule of law in context of findings from the Rule of Law Index®. 

(This concludes a two-part series on land rights and the rule of law, as shared with us by WJP Strategic Partner Landesa.) During my two decades of work as a promoter of good governance and the Rule of Law, I have seen interest in the field ebb and flow. In the 60s and 70s, the Law and Development Movement centered on developing the Rule of Law progressively and with limited support from bilateral donors or international organizations.

(Following is the first post in a two-part series on land rights and the rule of law, as shared with us by WJP Strategic Partner Landesa.) More than 17 million rural families—children, women and men—across India are invisible. They are invisible to the government and to society because they do not own any land. They do not appear in any government records and that means they cannot access a wide variety of existing and new government services.

At World Justice Forum IV, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg moderated a discussion with esteemed panelists Former Chief Justice of Brazil, Ellen Gracie Northfleet, and Iranian human rights activist and 2013 WJP Rule of Law Award winner Dr. Shirin Ebadi. Their talk focused on a variety of rule of law issues,  including human rights, promoting equal access to justice, establishing or reestablishing transparent institutions and systems, and equal access to the health system.