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Polaris Project Japan has been working to help victims of sex trafficking in Japan for the past eight years. The people served are primarily women and children, both foreign and Japanese nationals. While there are laws on the books regulating labor conditions, preventing child abuse, and prohibiting prostitution (although its definition is extremely narrow), Japan does not yet have laws to tackle this new type of slavery. Oftentimes, the victims are arrested for breaking prostitution laws or overstaying work visas.

In my corner of the bush, the term ‘rule of law’ is acquiring popular coinage. Like its predecessors, “human rights and democracy”, “corruption and good governance” and “transparency and accountability”, “rule of law” is now the new fashion phrase taken from a foreign language. I haven’t heard the term translated and used in more than a couple of the 140 odd local languages in daily use in the region.  Perhaps its mystique, power and appeal are locked in its un-translated foreignness.

Rule of law is, at its core, founded in respect of our fellow human beings.

On June 18 of 2012 the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (TCP) in Bolivia issued a ruling[i] which many had hoped would resolve an ongoing situation of violent social conflict which has questioned the State’s position on the rights of indigenous peoples for close to a decade.  The issue under debate is the construction of a road through the indigenous territory known as the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park –TIPNIS, inhabited since before the Spanish colonization by the Chimán, Yuracaré and Mojeño-Trinitario indigeno

Cyber space is the domain generated from the interconnection between computers and telecommunication networks in order to store, modify, and exchange data via networked systems and associated physical infrastructures without regard to physical geography. Therefore, its security largely depends on the data and the ICTs’ security.

PILnet has been working to build public interest law in China for almost ten years. It’s been a fascinating period of our history, one that has taught us much about the virtues of patience and unhurried determination. As we’ve learned, things can move slowly in China, and public interest work in China can move very slowly indeed.

The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any sovereign state in the world. In spite of the verbosity of its constitution, that sovereign state is home to the world’s largest number of illiterate persons (United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Report 2011). Despite some recent economic advances, this state presents a Greek tragedy of stone-hearted indifference to arguably the largest number of disadvantaged people in a country.

On 17-20 June 2012, the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability took place in Brazil. The Congress was organized by the Secretariat of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) under the guidance of its Executive Director, Mr. Achim Steiner, and Mr. Bakary Kante, Director of the Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, with the support of local co-hosts. A High Level International Advisory Committee and an Executive Steering Committee were also part of the governance structure.

Event Title: 2011 Global Report on Refugee Trends  Location: National Press Club Date: 20 June 2012 Organization: UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Speakers: Khaled Hosseini, Author, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador 

Relying on strong and longstanding partnerships with local organizations, The World Justice Project convened a taskforce of Tunisian leaders from business, government and civil society in Tunis on May 28, 2012, to assess rule of law opportunities and challenges facing Tunisia during the ongoing reform process.

Bernama- Malaysian National News Agency

Although much of Latin America is currently experiencing a period of economic growth and political stability, Central America is in the midst of a security crisis which threatens to undermine governance and the rule of law.  Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, whose boundaries form the region’s “Northern Triangle”, have become the epicenter of violent youth gang activity.  While the gangs are a major source of violence, other factors driving crime include drug trafficking (Central America is the main corridor for drugs moving from South America to Mexico before reaching the U.S.

Throughout the developing and post-Soviet world, some four billion people are forced to live and work outside the law. No matter how enterprising or talented they might be, the rules of the game are stacked against them: in too many countries, the laws and institutions for formalizing property and businesses are so burdensome, costly, discriminatory and just plain bad that most people are forced to operate in the shadows of the law.

“I am here to fight for a generation that is free of AIDS,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told thousands of participants at the International AIDS Conference on 23 July in Washington, D.C., reaffirming the U.S. commitment to combat AIDS. Although attendees welcomed her comments, calling it a “moral obligation” for the U.S. to continue supporting AIDS programs—Global Fund against AIDS, TB, and Malaria, PAPFAR—civil society leaders expressed concern over the devastating impact of cuts in funding, and lack of meaningful engagement with civil society on critical decisions.

KOLKATA, 24 JUNE: Suicide death rates in India are among the highest in the world and suicide is the cause of about twice as many deaths in the country as is HIV/AIDS, and about the same number as maternal causes of death in young women, according to a study published recently in the medical journal, The Lancet. 

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.”   James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 51 The cholera epidemic introduced to Haiti by United Nations troops provides an important test to the United Nations’ commitment to the rule of law, and a potentially precedent-setting challenge to immunity agreements for international organizations. 

In 2002, Uganda introduced free health care for all in public health facilities. It was such a welcome move especially for the poor segments of society.

The importance of the (inter)national rule of law for peace, fairness, and economic growth is generally acknowledged inside and outside the United Nations. However, there is mounting scepticism regarding the success of rule of law promotion by the UN and other international organizations and donors at the national and international levels during the past two decades.