World justice project
 World Justice Project | |
| Abbreviation | WJP |
|---|---|
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
| Purpose | Rule of Law |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
Region served | Worldwide |
Official language | English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Eastern Mandarin, Russian, Arabic, Turkish |
Founder & CEO | William H. Neukom |
| Website | World Justice Project |
Conception of Rule of Law
The World Justice Project has a specific definition of the Rule of Law. There are four main components that it sees as being universal principles for basic human rights as they relate to the institution of law. These are:
1. The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
2. The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
3. The process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, fair and efficient.
4. Access to justice is provided by competent, independent, and ethical adjudicators, attorneys or representatives and judicial officers who are of sufficient number, have adequate resource's, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.[1]
Rule of Law Index
The Rule of Law Index is a tool designed by the Wold Justice Project team to measure countries' adherence to the Rule of Law. It is a comprehensive tool that measures nations' performance on 16 factors and 68 sub-factors. To date 35 countries have been covered by the Rule of Law Index, accounting for 45% of the world's population. The countries covered so far include: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan[2], Kenya, Liberia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States.[3]
Major Accomplishments
The World Justice Forum II
Held in Vienna, Austria on November 11-14th 2009, the WJP organized a forum of global participants who gathered to discuss and organize action-oriented plans to increase the influence of the Rule of Law. The Forum was attended by 312 participants coming from 84 countries.[4]
The Opportunity Fund
The WJP Opportunity Fund was established to support action-oriented programs that resulted from ideas generated during the first World Justice Forum in 2008. The Fund is currently supporting 36 programs spanning all the world's continents. These programs are multi-disciplinary and aim to promote rule of law through a total of 17 disciplines, including: Architecture, Arts, Business, Education, Engineering, Environment, Faith, Government, Human Rights, Judiciary, Labor, Law, Media, Military, Public Health, Public Safety & Law Enforcement, and Science.[5]
Mainstreaming
The WJP has made it part of their mission to promote international and local collaboration in order to promote the Rule of Law. To accomplish this, the organization has held several regional meetings to bring together professionals and academics from a variety of disciplines in the interests of supporting continuous dialogue. The WJP has held five regional meetings since its creation to focus on the particular issues facing each area. These conferences have taken place in Washington, DC, Accra (Ghana), Buenos Aires, Prague, and Singapore. In addition, the WJP has also held a multitude of domestic mainstreaming meetings in more than 20 states within the United States of America.
References
- ^ http://www.worldjusticeproject.com
- ^ http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=21598
- ^ http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:u66bIxGJbmsJ:www.lexisnexis.com/documents/pdf/20080828015427_large.pdf+Rule+of+Law+Index&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
- ^ http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article194030.ece
- ^ http://worldjusticeproject.org/opportunity-fund/