Human Rights

2015 set a new record for displaced populations worldwide: 59.5 million people. 

As the world marked International Migrants Day on December 18 with a worldwide candlelight vigil to commemorate migrants and refugees who perished this year, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released shocking new figures of forced displacement worldwide.  By the end of 2015, it’s likely that the figure of displaced people will surpass 60 million—as many as the populations of Canada and Australia combined, or the entire population of Italy. 

On behalf of the judiciary of the United Kingdom, let me very warmly welcome the American Bar Association to London. 

WASHINGTON, DC (2 JUNE, 2015) – The World Justice Project (WJP) today released the WJP Rule of Law Index 2015, an annual report that measures how the rule of law is experienced by the general public in 102 countries worldwide. 

On December 4th, an advance, unedited version of the UN Secretary-General’s synthesis report on the post-2015 agenda was released: “The Road to Dignity by 2030: Ending Poverty, Transforming All Lives and Protecting the Planet.” The report will be formally issued in the six official languages of the UN on December 31st.

Today, on International Anti-Corruption Day, we take a look back at our 2014 WJP Rule of Law Index corruption data.

Although some Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) regional prisons like “Roumieh” or “Wadi el- Natroun” have become famous after riots in Lebanon and the uprising in Egypt, we know very little about what is really happening inside of them.

Malala Yousafzai was named after “Malala of Maiwand,” a fabled Pashtun poet and warrior woman: fitting for a child who began writing of her life under the Taliban for the BBC at the age of 11.

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.

This policy brief is part of a multidisciplinary initiative from the World Justice Project to expand knowledge of the relationship between public health and the rule of law, and to identify measures to tackle the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rule of law where they intersect. 

For the past twenty-six years of its post-Soviet history, Belarus, controlled by Alexander Lukashenko, has seen many affronts to justice and the rule of law – from politically motivated murders to routine falsifications of voting protocols and figures. The Belarusian political crisis capturing the world's attention today is part of a larger story in which key dimensions of the rule of law may help us understand the drivers of change.

Out now, "Failed Justice: Prevalence of Torture in Mexico's Criminal Justice System" analyzes quantitative evidence of the cases of thousands of Mexican persons that are victims of torture or ill-treatment in Mexico while being accused and processed in the Mexican criminal justice (state and federal) systems.

On Thursday, October 31, 2019, the WJP was pleased to participate in a panel event in partnership with the American Society of International Law discussing what ails the human rights movement today and how the international human rights system should respond. 

June 26 is the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, calling on stakeholders, institutions, and individuals around the world to unite in support of the total eradication of this human rights abuse.

The World Justice Challenge 2019: Access to Justice Solutions is now open for submissions. Applications are due February 8, 2019. Initiatives will be evaluated based on their potential for impact, scaling, replication, and sustainability.