Access to Justice - Focus of World Justice Forum

January 5, 2010

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William H. Neukom

Reaching across professions and across borders, World Justice Forum seeks to effect change

Nemata Majeks-Walker is passionate about access to justice and the rule of law. When she heard that the women of Sierra Leone were not aware of their right to inherit property, did not understand that they did not have to send children to a marriage home or that they could take a child back from a marriage home in which the daughter was abused, she knew she needed to work for change.

Laws were not written and publicized in the four major languages that many people spoke in Sierra Leone, explained Majeks-Walker, and even if the laws had been written down in an accessible language, many people -- especially women -- did not know how to read. In order to educate that constituency, Majeks-Walker worked through the media to broadcast translations of women's laws in four native tongues.

Majeks-Walker created her project in concert with the inaugural World Justice Forum, held in Vienna, Austria, in July 2008. The second World Justice Forum, during which participants heard from several attendees of the first Forum who -- like Majeks-Walker -- designed programs to strengthen the rule of law, was held in November 2009.

The second World Justice Forum brought together more than 300 representatives from nearly 90 nations and from 16 disciplines -- architecture, the arts, business, engineering, health, labor, law and judiciary, media and the sciences among them -- to review data on the rule of law, listen to current scholarship on the issue of justice for all in divided societies, and hear about rule of law projects that have already been undertaken since the World Justice Project was launched in December 2006.

What differentiates the World Justice Project from other organizations that seek to bring about change in the area of access to justice is that it is multidisciplinary in nature -- it does not rely simply on lawyers and judges to address shortcomings in the rule of law. Instead, it is based on the tenet that we are all stakeholders in the rule of law. The Project also is action-oriented. During the Forums, as well as during the regional meetings that have been held on five continents, attendees make a concrete commitment to strengthen the rule of law at the local level. They design projects to move societies toward greater opportunity and equity in such areas as women rights, public health, anti-corruption, a sustainable environment and others.

The rule of law means simple justice. As defined by the World Justice Project, this includes the following principles: that the government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law; that the laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property; that the process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, fair and efficient; and that access to justice is provided by competent, independent, and ethical adjudicators, attorneys or representatives, and judicial officers who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

As Justice Ellen Gracie Northfleet, Federal Supreme Court of Brazil, stated in her keynote address during the Forum, “It is no easy task to maintain an independent judiciary; just as it is no easy task to keep a really well functioning democracy. Inevitably both will present flaws. We should be careful, though, not to let these flaws be perceived as a general characteristic of the system. Confidence in the fairness of the system is fundamental.” The rule of law is about having a fair process in under which laws are made and implemented.

To gauge a country’s adherence to the rule of law comprehensively and in practice, the World Justice Project has developed the Rule of Law Index. The Index measures how countries fare in such areas as whether discrimination is prohibited by law, whether safe and accessible courts exist, and whether powers are distributed to keep the government in check. The Index provides data for governments, civil society, non-governmental organizations and business leaders to target efforts and resources to strengthen the rule of law.

To date, some 41,000 citizens and more than 700 experts from 35 nations have been interviewed to compile information on their countries’ adherence to the rule of law. By 2011, the Rule of Law Index will have studied 100 nations; data will be collected annually so that governments and citizens can monitor successes and continued weaknesses.

Attendees of the Forum were able to review current data, and also offer their expertise and opinions on the factors that make up the Index and which factors they feel should be weighed more heavily in the future. For example, is it more important for governments to be in compliance with international law, to have reporters and whistleblowers free from retaliation, or for individuals to have a right to legal representation in criminal cases?

The Rule of Law Index will also assist the World Justice Project in determining what projects are funded through the WJP’s Opportunity Fund. The Fund provides seed money to projects incubated during the Forum and other regional meetings to improve access to justice. In addition to the project created by Majeks-Walker, other projects supported by the Fund to date have included ones to further anti-corruption efforts in the construction industry in Tunisia and to improve public health for slum dwellers in India, to name just two. Thus far, 36 projects, selected from 66 applications from five continents, have been funded.

The anti-corruption project in Tunisia includes efforts to train-the-trainer, and brings together the disciplines of law, architecture, engineering, education and business. The Public Health Foundation of India helps urban residents obtain identification cards needed to attain health care services, and trains NGO workers in what is needed to establish legal identity, and helps to educate those workers regarding what health benefits are available to the urban poor.

In addition to hearing from speakers such as Justice Northfleet and Dr. Ashraf Ghani, participants of the second World Justice Forum met with individuals within their discipline -- whether it was environment, public health, business or government -- and, later, by region of the world. During that time, attendees discussed problems of adherence to the rule of law and pledged to work toward change.

The environmental session, for example, included individuals sharing their first-hand experiences about problems of water allocation between nations, problems of implementation and enforcement of environmental laws and treaties, and the conflict that exists between economic development and environmental protection.

Attendees discussed how they themselves can educate colleagues about these areas of concerns and also how they can petition their own governments to sign on to United Nations agreements and enact new laws as necessary. In addition, the participants debated the feasibility of creating a separate environmental Rule of Law Index, and they discussed how they could help create an environmental alternative dispute resolution training program at the local level, to include both environmental experts, such as scientists and engineers, and individuals skilled in ADR. Attendees will continue to meet online to further these environmental projects and others.

Making this kind of commitment, and working together across country lines and professional disciplines, we can make strides toward a more just and peaceful world.

To learn more about the Project, visit its Web site at www.worldjusticeproject.com

William H. Neukom is the founder of the World Justice Project.

Copyright © 2010 The World & I Online. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

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