At the World Justice Forum IV, Ruha Devanesan, Executive Director of the Internet Bar Organization, is interviewed by Radha Friedman, Director of Programs at the WJP, about the Peacetones project incubated at the innaugural World Justice Forum to improve the economic prospects of musicians from disadvantaged areas through empowering them to create, protect, and sell their music throughout the world.
The PeaceTones Initiative helped to produce four albums: PeaceTones Brazil, PeaceTones Haiti, PeaceTones Sierra Leone, and PeaceTones Fair Trade Music Presents Wanito. PeaceTones has demonstrated the economic value of intellectual property rights to musicians in developing countries, helping to create a truly global marketplace through which musicians in low-income, post-conflict or post-disaster communities can sell their music to world markets online, keep the majority of profits from their music, and return a portion of their profits to their communities.
2024 is a pivotal year for democracy, with over 60 countries electing leaders to govern nearly half the world's population. But despite the possibility of record voter turnout, these elections are unfolding amidst a global rule of law recession that is accelerating democratic decline.
Eight years ago, a World Justice Project poll found that an overwhelming majority of Americans–91%–believed they could vote freely without being harassed or pressured. After the 2020 election, only 58% of people still agreed. Will 2024 be different?