World Justice Forum

Overview

Forum attendees develop plans to advance the rule of law world-wide

The World Justice Forum, held July 2-5, 2008 in Vienna, Austria, marked the public global debut of the World Justice Project. The Forum brought together 450 governmental and non-governmental leaders from around the world to articulate how the rule of law affects their disciplines and regions and to develop collaborative actions to strengthen the rule of law.  

• World Justice Forum participants came from 83 nations from throughout Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Participants represented the following principle disciplines: architecture, arts, business, education, engineering, environment, finance, government, human rights, judiciary, labor, law, media, medicine, military, public health, public safety, and science.
• Those attending the Forum participated in sessions examining the contributions of the rule of law to their disciplines, reviewed the scholarship and Rule of Law Index developed by the WJP, and developed action plans for programs to strengthen the rule of law around the world.

The Forum built on a year and a half's substantive and constituency-building work by the WJP.

Action Plans

The Forum launched an ambitious process through which leaders from various fields of endeavor are developing collaborative programs involving multiple disciplines to strengthen the rule of law. Unlike many conferences, the Forum called on participants to develop and commit to actions. Participants divided into breakout sessions first by discipline, then by geographic region to develop approaches to strengthening the rule of law. They then devised action plans for those programs.

• 46 action plans were drawn up by the regions and 43 by the discipline-based groups.
• The content of the plans is diverse. The plans encompass such matters as reducing corruption, strengthening the rights of women and of workers, placing greater resources at the disposal of judges, freeing arts from political control, and strengthening compliance with environmental protection laws.
• A common theme across multiple regions of the world was the need to build understanding and appreciation of the rule of law.
• Forum participants committed to taking steps to advance their action plans over the following 12 to 18 months.
• Each action plan spells out a goal, the activities to be conducted, the resources called for, and an initial budget. All action plans are based on multidisciplinary collaboration.

At the Forum, ABA President William Neukom unveiled the WJP's new Opportunity Fund, which will provide grants to support competitively selected programs designed by Forum participants to advance the rule of law. Grants will support projects between two or more disciplines that advance the rule of law by addressing a concrete problem facing the grantees' disciplines or region. Following the receipt and review of applications, the WJP will award grants in fall 2008. Progress on funded initiatives will be reviewed at the 2009 World Justice Forum.

Prominent Speakers on the Rule of Law

Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim,founder of Celtel International, discussed prospects for the rule of law in Africa.

During the Forum, distinguished experts from around the world shared their insights on the importance of the rule of law to thriving communities. Those addressing the full plenaries included:

· Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative;

· Emil Constantinescu, former President of Romania;

· Salih Mahmoud Osman, Winner of the 2007 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and Member, Sudan National Assembly;

· Ashraf Ghani, Chairman, Institute of State Effectiveness and former Finance Minister of Afghanistan;

· Robert Badinter, Senator, Parliament of France;

· Arthur Chaskalson, former Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa;

· Mohamed Ibrahim, Chairman of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation;

· Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; and

· Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Forum's speakers, moderators and rapporteurs included such additional experts and leaders as:

· Cherie Booth Blair, QC, Matrix Chambers, London;

· David Byrne, S.C., former EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection;

· Maria Cattaui, former Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce;

· Emilio Colon, President-Elect, World Council of Civil Engineers;

· Hans Corell, former Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, United Nations;

· Hilario Davide Jr., Philippine Ambassador to the U.N. and former Chief Justice of the Philippines;

· Adama Dieng, Assistant-Secretary-General and Registrar, United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda;

· Raquel Gonzalez Grassi, Assistant Director, International Trade Union Federation;

· Kunio Hamada, former Justice, Supreme Court of Japan;

· Barbara Hatcher, Secretary General, World Federation of Public Health Associations

· James Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, and Nobel Prize winner in Economics;

· Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International;

· Nemata Majeks-Walker, Founding President, The 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone

· Fernando Pombo, President, International Bar Association;

· Roy Prosterman, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Rural Development Institute;

· Richard Riley, Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, and former U.S. Secretary of Education;

· Brigadier General Kevin Riordan, New Zealand Defence Force;

· Akilagpa Sawyerr, Secretary-General, Association of African Universities;

· Robert Stumbles, Chancellor, Anglican Diocese of Zimbabwe; and

· Zheyu Yang, Senior Editor, Caijing Magazine