Human Rights

Throughout the developing and post-Soviet world, some four billion people are forced to live and work outside the law. No matter how enterprising or talented they might be, the rules of the game are stacked against them: in too many countries, the laws and institutions for formalizing property and businesses are so burdensome, costly, discriminatory and just plain bad that most people are forced to operate in the shadows of the law.

The importance of the (inter)national rule of law for peace, fairness, and economic growth is generally acknowledged inside and outside the United Nations. However, there is mounting scepticism regarding the success of rule of law promotion by the UN and other international organizations and donors at the national and international levels during the past two decades.

Event Title: Transitional Justice and Displacement Location: The Brookings Institution Date: July 26, 2012 Host Organization:  The Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement and the International Center for Transitional Justice Panelists: Megan Bradley, Fellow at The Brookings Institution

In 2008, a multinational, multidisciplinary collaborative research project was conceived between Nottingham University, UK, the Club of Madrid (80+ former heads of state from over 50 countries committed to the furtherance of democratic values worldwide), Dr Silvia Casale (former President of the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture, and UN SubCommittee on Prevention of Torture), and later Malága University, Spain, under the umbrella of the WJP as one of its first Opportunity Fund projects.

The trial of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his aides was optimistically dubbed “the trial of the century.” That, of course, was before the verdicts were announced.

After taking power following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak on February 11, 2011, Egypt’s military council governed the country until an official handover of power to civilian forces on July 1, 2012. Many analysts, however, are skeptical of the claim that the military is now out of politics, and even skeptical of the thought that the military ever intended to leave politics.