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"The universality of the rule of law cannot be overemphasized.

"[The WJP Rule of Law Index] is general; it is specific; it is rigorous but accessible.

To strengthen the rule of law in any country, we first need clarity about the fundamental features of the rule of law in order to evaluate it.  

At the World Justice Forum IV in The Hague on July 2013, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg moderated a Keynote Conversation: Women Leadership in Rule of Law with former Chief Justice of Brazil, Ellen Gracie Northfleet, and Nobel laureate and Iranian judge Dr. Shirin Ebadi.

“Effective rule of law helps reduce corruption, alleviate poverty, improve public health and education, and protect people from injustices and dangers large and small. Wherever we come from, the rule of law can always be strengthened.” - William H. Neukom, WJP President & CEO.  

WJP Rule of Law Index 2014 surveys 99 countries on government accountability, crime, fundamental rights, access to justice, and more 

On March 5th, the World Justice Project will launch the WJP Rule of Law Index® 2014, a report that measures how the rule of law is experienced by ordinary people around the world. Our latest release of the Index relies on surveys gathered from over 100,000 citizens and experts worldwide to offer a comprehensive look at a country’s performance in regards to fundamental rights, justice, security, corruption, governance, and other rule of law issues.

This year’s Davos rightly created some noise around the idea that businesses have an important role to play in protecting fundamental rights. A particular highlight was the publication of the B Team Leader’s statement (“B Team Leaders call for business to stand up for human rights”) supported by Richard Branson, Arianna Huffington, Mo Ibrahim and Professor Muhammed Yunus among others.

Phase 2 of Street Law Zambia’s pilot project sent veteran human rights attorney and educator, Pamela Mumbi, to Seattle, Washington, USA. Mrs. Mumbi received pedagogical training and visited classrooms currently implementing Street Law curriculum adapted to high school students in the United States.

Director and Producer Lorie Conway gives us an update on the path ahead for Beatrice, Zimbabwe, and for the documentary film Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law.  The film was screened at the World Justice Forum IV in the Hague in July, as well as co-screened with WJP in Seattle and Washington, DC. “This woman has guts, she never stops fighting, no fear. I`ll hand it to you, Beatrice. You get a salute from me…”

Legislators react. They don’t enact. A politician who declares a revolution is actually just announcing the phenomenon which he seeks to legislate can no longer be ignored. The real changes are made by people, by society, by individual choices and actions, not by political statements or election propaganda. The legislator simply updates the law to reflect the changes that the people have already made a reality through individual acts of autonomy and self-expression.

We tried to make this a "Top 10" list, but there were just too many great photos. So, without further ado, here are our favorite 15 photos from 2013—just click on the photo below to launch the Flickr set:     15 Favorite Photos from 2013

As the year comes to a close, we look back at Justice Rising's top ten most popular blog posts of 2013. From the regulatory crisis in Bangladeshi factories to whether the rule of law indeed makes people happy, enjoy the best of the WJP blog.   

What do we talk about when we talk about the rule of law? Issues of security, accountability, and justice—to name but a few—affect people from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. As we scan global media for rule-of-law-focused news, we sometimes find WJP referenced in these important stories and debates. Following are recent mentions that caught our attention:  

The news broke on Saturday evening. FW De Klerk had just announced that Nelson Mandela would be a free man on Sunday. Throughout the country there were spontaneous celebrations as the nation prepared to receive the man most knew only through legend and whose only known images were outdated 1960s black and white photographs and artists’ impressions. That Sunday, the 11th of February 1990, South Africa was to take one big gigantic step towards liberation. Once he stepped out of the prison gates, there would be no turning back on the journey to freedom.

In July 2013, the World Justice Project dedicated the World Justice Forum IV in The Hague to Nelson Mandela, a man who more than any embodied the values, principles and goals of the WJP. At the time Mandela was lying in a hospital ward fighting the vagaries of old age and frailty and the world was united in prayer for his recovery. In characteristic Mandela fashion he fought on, refusing to shed his mortal coil. It took six months for death to finally triumph over his 95-year-old frame.

Urbanization is an inexorable trend of humanity. Human beings tend to congregate in always larger clusters and today’s megacities tend to grow in conurbations.    

An update from the Modelling Kivalina project, incubated with support from the WJP and developed by a multidisciplinary group of researchers called The Centre of the Earth. Learn more about their program here.