By: Staff Writer
October 28, 2022
The World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, 2022 highlights Belize and Honduras as two countries where the rule of law was strengthened by a change in governmental administration.
The report, now available on the organisation’s website, shows that overall most countries declined in the various rule of law indices.
The World Justice Project’s analysis of in-depth survey data in 140 countries and jurisdictions shows that adherence to the rule of law fell in 61 percent of countries this year.
“Authoritarian trends that predate the pandemic continue to erode the rule of law,” said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of the WJP. “Checks on executive power are weakening and respect for human rights is falling.”
As the world emerges from the pandemic, the Index finds that rule of law declines are less widespread and extreme than last year, when Covid shutdowns dramatically disrupted justice systems and governments exercised emergency powers that curtailed civic freedoms and bypassed accountability mechanisms.
There were some bright spots in this year’s rankings however as Honduras and Belize have shown vast improvements since the government changed over in each of those countries.
Alicia Evangelides, co-director for the WJP Rule of Law Index, said: “When we look at the top improvers this year, we see that three of the five countries, which are Honduras, Belize and the United States all had recent elections and changes in administration, which suggests that people really do have the power to change course and when it happens peacefully, it can strengthen the rule of law.
“Honduras and Belize have made up for recent declines, while the US still has a ways to go after experiencing some of the biggest declines in the world in the previous years.”
For the fifth consecutive year, the rule of law weakened in more countries than those in which it improved (85 vs. 54 countries, or 61 percent vs. 39 percent). More than 4.4BN people live in countries where the rule of law weakened in the past year. This is equivalent to 56 percent of the world’s population.
The pandemic has exacerbated a pre-existing breakdown in the rule of law. In 2021, overall rule of law scores weakened in 74 percent of countries and, on average, fell by 1 percent. This year, the rule of law declined in 61 percent of countries and average scores dropped by 0.5 percent. While rule of law declined in fewer countries in 2022 than in 2021, two thirds of those countries that saw a decline in 2021 experienced a further decline in 2022. In 2021, the main deteriorations were in Constraints on Government Powers; timeliness of civil, criminal, and administrative justice procedures; civic space; and absence of discrimination.
Scores in these areas fell in 70 percent, 94 percent, 82 percent, and 67 percent of countries, respectively. In 2022, there were deteriorations in these factors in the majority of countries. However, with the exception of discrimination scores, the scores declined in fewer countries as the pandemic effects eased in some countries. This year, scores in these areas fell in 58 percent, 86 percent, 73 percent, and 70 percent of countries, respectively
Countries with both strong and weak rule of law experienced declines. However, the steepest declines were seen in countries that already had weak rule of law. In all but one region, more countries declined than improved.
Since 2015, rule of law scores have weakened in 64 percent of countries studied in the Index and have declined by an average of 2.6 percent globally. This deterioration has been driven by authoritarian tendencies, including weaker checks and balances, diminished accountability, and eroded protection of fundamental rights. Over this time period, Index scores for Constraints on Government Powers and Fundamental Rights declined in 68 percent and 76 percent of countries, respectively.
In a majority of countries, scores also fell on indicators measuring whether political dissidents or the media are subjected to unreasonable searches, detention, threats, or abusive treatment (66 percent of countries), and those measuring freedom of opinion and expression (81 percent of countries), and freedom of assembly and association (85 percent of countries). The only factor that improved in a majority of countries during this period was Regulatory Enforcement, although marginally (59 percent of the countries recorded improvements and an average increase of only 0.9 percent).