Law

The crime of forced internal displacement is not a new phenomenon in Colombia. It has been a widespread practice in the country’s internal armed conflict for several decades. However, forced internal displacement cannot be reduced to an inherent or unintended effect of the conflict. The armed actors in the Colombian armed conflict—the army and its paramilitary groups, on one hand, and the guerrilla groups, on the other—have used the practice of forced displacement of civilian populations as part of their military strategies to take control of or maintain a presence in certain territories.

"Democracy is not just about holding periodic elections…it is a way of life and the office of the “citizen” is its basic component" - Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani

Each year at this time—timed purposefully to coincide with International Anti-Corruption Day—Transparency International publishes its annual global ranking of the world’s countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be, the Corruption Perceptions Index.  Transparency International’s work to standardize cross-country corruption indicators such as the CPI was recognized recently in this blog as part of the “Rule of Law Measurement Revolutio

I recently attended proceedings for a dozen detainees who were being held by the National Directorate of Security (“NDS”) for charges relating to national security.

It is two years since the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law was set up. Its director, Sir Jeffrey Jowell, talks about its work to Frances Gibb.

It is difficult to drum up widespread, grassroots political support for the rule of law.  In the eyes of many people, the rule of law does not put food on the table.  Worse still, the law can be a source of oppression.  Governments and law-enforcement officials can and do commit crimes.  The role of law in our Apartheid history is an awful example. Understandably, not all South Africans hold the law in high regard.

In some developing countries, informal or traditional justice systems resolve up to 80 percent of disputes, over everything from cattle to contracts, dowries to divorce. Disproportionately, these mechanisms affect women and children.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been successful on many levels. They could be understood by all. They could be implemented universally. They have become the development horizon for 140 governments in the South and the coherent cooperation agenda for another 50 governments of the North.

As the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index® illustrates, a country’s adherence to international standards for the rule of law depends on both written laws and actual compliance. Governments that respect and enforce the rule of law and actively work to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens will be more successful in protecting human rights and, importantly, will be perceived as being more fair and legitimate.

The purpose of this Guide is to provide an orientation for politicians regarding the basic elements of the rule of law. The Guide was inspired by discussions within the InterAction Council of Former Heads of State and Government. The process of preparing the material was initiated and supervised by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Lund University, Sweden, and the Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law (HiiL), the Netherlands.

It is a bad week for the rule of law in South Africa when in the space of two days President Zuma and the Judicial Service Commission both reveal that they have scant regard for their respective duties to uphold the rule of law. The president is clearly bound by a Supreme Court of Appeal judgment that requires the National Prosecuting Authority to make a redacted record of what was under consideration by it when it was decided to stop the prosecution of the president on over 700 charges of corruption in 2009.

I would like to explore a new rule of law with you. A funny one. One that could confront you in the future (but you won’t know that until that future is there).

Recognizing that legal aid “is an essential element of a fair, humane and efficient criminal justice system that is based on the rule of law,” the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice adopted the first international instrument on legal aid on April 27, 2012. The Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems (“Principles and Guidelines”) aim to ensure that states adopt measures and establish systems that provide persons accused of crimes with prompt and effective legal aid services.

On June 18 of 2012 the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal (TCP) in Bolivia issued a ruling[i] which many had hoped would resolve an ongoing situation of violent social conflict which has questioned the State’s position on the rights of indigenous peoples for close to a decade.  The issue under debate is the construction of a road through the indigenous territory known as the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park –TIPNIS, inhabited since before the Spanish colonization by the Chimán, Yuracaré and Mojeño-Trinitario indigeno

PILnet has been working to build public interest law in China for almost ten years. It’s been a fascinating period of our history, one that has taught us much about the virtues of patience and unhurried determination. As we’ve learned, things can move slowly in China, and public interest work in China can move very slowly indeed.