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International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future. Mrs. Indra Nooyi, Honorary Chair of the World Justice Project and Chairman and CEO of Pepsico, Inc., embodies the spirit of women entrepreneurs working to instill fundamental rights into the core operations of multinational corporations.

A look around the world on latest rule of law events in March

On March 4, 2013 Kenyans will go to the polls to elect their 4th president. Incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, is term-limited and will not be on the ballot. The contest will be between two main political coalitions, The Jubilee Alliance and The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD). Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Raila Odinga head the two alliances, respectively.

On February 24th and 25th Italian parliamentary elections will be held. The electoral system in place is referred to in Italy as the “Calderoli law”, approved in 2005 and already used in the 2006 and 2008. Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate are elected with a proportional system with a majority premium. The two systems however are not identical.

The supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law are enshrined in section one of the founding provisions of the constitution. In effect, this means ours is a system in which all laws and conduct have to be consistent with our founding norms and values on pain of being struck down by the courts as invalid. While the constitution itself is contained in a single document drafted by the founders of our new constitutional order, the rule of law is less easily identified but no less important for the success of the democratic project the nation embarked upon in 1994.

One example of how society has come to view gender and disability is demonstrated by the iconographic historical symbol of justice, the blindfolded Lady Justice.

WJP Launches Most Comprehensive Rule of Law Index to Date

Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are legally bound to put its provisions into practice.  But how far has gender equality advanced since 1979, when the UN General Assembly adopted this prominent treaty on women’s rights?

“The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower

With many people in low income countries denied the right to be heard, access to justice and equality under the law - fundamental and constitutional rights - it is not surprising to see individuals from affected communities taking matters into their own hands. In my country, Malawi, weak, unaccountable, and unresponsive legal institutions have led to groups of people standing up to protect what belongs to them.

According to new estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, nearly 870 million people suffer from hunger today. More than 50 countries, many of them in South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara, have levels of hunger that are ‘extremely alarming’, ‘alarming’, or ‘serious’ according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 2012 Global Hunger Index. Furthermore, according to the World Health Organization, more than two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiencies. A significant number of them live in Asia.

A look around the world on latest rule of law events in February Bill on crime against women at the beginning of Budget Session The Indian Government is planning to bring a fresh Bill to replace the ordinance on crime against women issued on Sunday, within the first few days of the Budget Session of Parliament beginning February 21. (Read more)

There are important evidence-based studies that have shown, not least through the work of BRAC and Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, that by investing in and focusing on women as the centre of development interventions we achieve multi-layered levels of progress which rapidly spread from the household to the community and to the State level. These are also the interventions which have the most long lasting impact. When a woman is helped to recognize her own agency, and when her own justice seeking behavior increases, the behavior of the whole household changes.

Spending time on the ground in countries like Liberia and Nepal, it soon becomes clear that despite good intentions, we still have very little idea how best to support the accountability of power-holders to citizens. There are hundreds of organizations working on corruption, transparency and accountability (words which are themselves confused and used inter-changeably); but the combined effect of these efforts is still much less than the sum of its parts.

Most Americans, if asked, would rank the United States at the top of any scale measuring rule of law compliance. This assumption is squarely challenged by the World Justice Project’s (WJP) recent rule of law index rankings for 2012: here the US fares well overall, but disturbingly low in critical areas of securing fundamental human rights, including worker rights.  

Last Friday marked the second anniversary of Egypt’s January 25th revolution, which toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Yet the weekend’s celebration has been marred by five straight days of clashes between opposition protesters and security forces.

In large parts of the world, indigenous courts, councils of elders, and similar traditional authorities play a central role in the resolution of disputes. Despite all cultural differences, they share common features. Their relations with the state justice institutions are in many cases problematic, especially when they are not formally recognised. Nevertheless, they are perceived as legitimate institutions by local populations.

It is likely that most US citizens who consider themselves informed about global events are aware of the genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia and East Timor, yet it’s likely that few people in the US are aware of the ongoing genocide in West Papua, New Guinea.