Government

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. 

(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.

2013 Theme: "Indigenous peoples building alliances: Honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements" The International Day of the World's Indigenous People (9 August) was first proclaimed by the General Assembly in December 1994, to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995 – 2004).

India may be the world’s largest democracy, but it is still governed by a vast and powerful bureaucracy. For much of India’s history, that bureaucracy has been largely opaque and unaccountable, legitimized by leftover vestiges of colonial rule, such as the Official Secrets Act (OSA) of 1923.

Political parties are seen by the publics in most countries as the most corrupt institutions in their societies, according to the latest survey by the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI) released Tuesday. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer, which was based on interviews with more than 114,000 interviews in 107 countries, also found that a majority of respondents (54 percent) believe their governments are either largely or entirely controlled by a few big entities acting in their own self interest.

On July 10 2013, panelist Roberto Hernandez will discuss the ways in which specific artistic voices emerge in societies; how art can be used to educate people about their rights; the skills and mediums that artists employ to raise awareness; and the effect on the art and the artist when he or she transforms into a representative of the people, or even the government.  ***

On April 24th, 2013, Bangladesh faced its worst industrial disaster. An eight-story garment factory collapsed, resulting in the loss of more than 1100 lives. A few days after the incident, Christian Amanpour of CNN interviewed the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, where she responded to the crisis by saying “Anywhere in the world, accidents can happen.

While gender equality is enshrined in the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights, in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and in legislation in most countries, women’s conditions of participation in markets and their rewards from that participation, still remain woefully unequal to men’s.  

What are the changes that happened in the past 50 years that West Papua has been ruled by Indonesia?  Why do I reflect on my personal journey and write this? Because this has been the reality of the lives of the Papuan people under the Indonesian military system  since the 1st of May, 1963 and since the so called Act of Free Choice in 1969 when West Papua through military and political pressure was unjustly integrated into Indonesia. We [West Papuans] have maintained our dignity in the face of oppression, insult and prejudice.

Malawi is a multiparty democracy with a population of approximately 15 million. In April, 2012 Joyce Banda took over through a smooth transition as President in what local and international observers characterized as a sign that Malawi respects the Rule of Law. Her Government inherited serious challenges ranging from economic hardships, bad governance and donor fatigue.

Red light ticket cameras at intersections are becoming more prevalent with the technological innovations like enhanced imaging making traffic cams less prone to errors. The reasons many municipalities cite for using such technology is the perceived reduction in traffic accidents and fatalities at high-risk intersections.  However, these cameras are also coming under increased scrutiny due to a variety of other factors such as: