World Justice Project Impact Update: Q2 2021

 World Justice Challenge 2021 Live Awards Presentation
 

On May 26, 2021, WJP announced the six winners of the World Justice Challenge 2021 competition. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's World Justice Challenge sought to identify, recognize, and promote good practices and high-impact projects and policies that protect and advance the rule of law in this time of unprecedented crisis. Selected from a pool of 425 submissions from 114 countries and 30 finalists, these six winning projects were awarded $20,000 USD for their inspiring work:

• The Access to Justice for All prize is awarded to Justice Defenders' "Increasing Access to Justice and Providing Legal Education Through Online Learning Platforms and Virtual Courts." (Kenya/Uganda/Gambia) 
• The Accountable Governance prize is awarded to Horizontal's "Tella," a documentation app that makes it easier and safer to document events such as human rights violations, corruption, and electoral fraud. (US/Global/Myanmar/Belarus) 
• The Anti-Corruption and Open Government prize is awarded to Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ)'s "Constructing Transparency: Promoting Justice in Honduras Through Good Governance and Strong Public Management." (Honduras) 
• The Fundamental Rights and Non-Discrimination prize is awarded to Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel's "COVID-19 Project: Demanding Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination for the Arab Minority Through the Israeli Legal System." (Israel) 
• The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Legacy Prize is awarded to Dhobi Women Network's "Inua Mama Fua." The project defends the rights of women domestic workers working in the suburbs of Nairobi. (Kenya) 
• The WJP Network Popular Vote prize is awarded to Terre des Hommes Foundation's "Accelerate Release of Children; Protect Children from COVID-19." The project is dedicated to building rapid knowledge and mobilizing interdisciplinary partnerships to foster a global advocacy campaign with a swift, targeted, and effective impact for children deprived of liberty. (Switzerland/Global)

Key Insights: The World Justice Challenge 2021 recognized dozens of innovative projects from around the world in response to the pandemic’s effects on the rule of law. Our "World Justice Challenge 2021: Outcome Report" summarizes the main insights we learned from justice champions working on accountable governance, anti-corruption, fundamental rights, and access to justice. It offers concrete ideas for strengthening rights and governance from the ground up, including important findings on the use of data and technology, the critical contribution of citizen voices, and ways to reach more vulnerable populations.

Launch of the WJP Mexico States Rule of Law Index

On April 28, WJP's Mexico team launched the third edition of WJP’s Mexico States Rule of Law Index. The 30-minute digital event included testimonials from three Mexican State Governors (Yucatan, Sonora, and Guanajuato), Mexico’s Undersecretary for Human Rights, Population and Migration, and others. Attended by over 580 viewers, guests included members of the Senate, Federal and State governments of Mexico, as well as foreign government officials and policy-makers. 

The Mexico States Index measures adherence to the rule of law in each of Mexico's 32 states using a survey methodology modeled on WJP's approach in over 120 countries. It is one of the most complete measurements of institutional performance in the country and it is currently cited in seven state and five national development plans, helping policy and decision makers promote public policies that strengthen the rule of law in Mexico.

Framing the Rule of Law Conversation

• In a guest article for Equal Times, WJP Chief Engagement Officer Ted Piccone takes a look at how workers face increasingly tough conditions for asserting their rights, especially as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc across many vulnerable economic and demographic sectors.

• In honor of Law Day on May 1st, WJP's Elizabeth Andersen hosted a Rule of Law Talk podcast episode featuring the Executive Director of iCivics, Louise Dubé; the President-Elect of the ABA, Reginald Turner; and an experienced civics educator, Averill Kelley, to discuss the Educating for American Democracy initiative and other efforts to strengthen civics education as a bulwark of the rule of law in the United States.

• After hosting a series of academic seminars with researchers from 10 different universities and research centers on rule of law and corruption, WJP México has co-published the book, “Rule of Law: Key to Accountability and the Control of Corruption” with the CIDE's Interdisciplinary Program for Accountability (PIRC).

Malawi Resentencing Project, a 2019 World Justice Challenge Winner, Sees Efforts Rewarded with Abolition of the Death Penalty

As we celebrated the 2021 World Justice Challenge winners, we were delighted this quarter to receive news of a major success in the work of a 2019 winner—the Malawi Resentencing Project coordinated by the Malawi Legal Aid Bureau, Reprieve-Malawi, and Cornell Law School. The Project’s work to represent death row prisoners has resulted in more than 145 prisoners having their death sentence overturned and being released from prison. The Project has also helped foster reconsideration of the death penalty among policy-makers, government officials, the judiciary, and society as a whole, culminating on April 28 in a historic Supreme Court decision abolishing the death penalty. The Project, which used the World Justice Challenge prize to expand its efforts to Tanzania and Kenya, sees the Malawi ruling as setting the stage for abolition in other countries in the region.

Data Drives Justice—and the News

Recent WJP media mentions from around the world:

A Women's Death in Mexico Fueled Outrage. Can it Fuel Police Reform?
The Christian Science Monitor | April 8, 2021

Biden's First Steps on Central American Migration
The Christian Science Monitor | April 13, 2021 

Death Penalty False Cure for Ailing Indonesian Justice System
The Jakarta Post | April 21, 2021

A Perceptible Rule of Law 
El Sol de Mexico | April 28, 2021

The Effectiveness of Justice and Freedom of the Press Decline in 16 States
El Pais | April 28, 2021

Has the Duterte Administration Made Us a Stronger Nation?
PhilStar Global | April 28, 2021

The Rule of Law Index in Mexico: A Tool for Decision Making
Mexicanos Contra la Corrupcion | May 11, 2021

Yoweri Museveni: What to Expect When He Starts Another 5 Years in Power in Uganda?
BBC | May 12, 2021

Earn the Trust of Citizens - President Kagame to Newly Sworn-in Judges
KT Press | May 14, 2021

Law Clinic Helped Pave Way for Malawi's Death Penalty Law
Mirage News | May 19, 2021

Want to Solve the Immigration Crisis? Invest in the Central American Economy
Real Clear Policy | June 11, 2021

How China's Security Law Changed Hong Kong Forever in Just 12 Months
Bloomberg | June 29, 2021

World Justice Forum 2022: Save the Date

The World Justice Project is pleased to announce that the next edition of the World Justice Forum will take place from May 30 – June 2, 2022, in The Hague, Netherlands and online. Please save the date on your calendars for this milestone event! Convened on a theme of “Building More Just Communities,” the Forum will assemble diverse public and private sector leaders and advocates to advance a just recovery from COVID-19 and stimulate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Please save the date for an important agenda-setting event for the rule of law community!