Explicit linkage between law and development goals deemed an advance
By Stella Dawson
WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (TrustLaw) – A UN declaration by world leaders on Monday that the rule of law is essential to promoting peace, justice and prosperity fell far short of the ambitious action plan sought by the United Nations’ chief and disappointed activists.
The UN General Assembly meeting in New York adopted a 42-point statement affirming its support for a range of legal issues affecting human rights, peace and international security. While UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called it “a milestone” that will help in meeting challenges ahead, it lacked the program of action, specific goals and key measurements for achieving them that he had sought.
Instead the six-page document was replete with generalities that papered over a deep rift between some developing countries that complain of an inequality of power on the international stage and a double standard, where they say the Western world tries to impose its legal norms on other nations.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put this view bluntly, telling the rule of law session that states should not yield to rules imposed "by bullying countries."
The only concrete action promised in the UN document was work “to develop further the linkages between rule of law … and peace and security, human rights and development“ in time for the next annual meeting. Otherwise, it used words such as states “recognize” “commit”, “emphasize” and “reaffirm” in describing members’ support for a range of legal issues such as women’s rights to legal assistance and freedom from violence and no impunity for genocide.
“It is an unfortunate, missed opportunity,” said James Goldston, executive director of the justice program at the Open Society Foundations in New York, one of many non-governmental organizations that worked with the UN in developing the declaration.
“What we have is a document that doesn’t say very much. Given the varying priorities of states and so many things on the agenda, it was difficult to get anything more than the lowest common denominator,” he said.
David Tolbert, president of the International Center for Transitional Justice, welcomed the common text but similarly said it was weakened by the “very broad kitchen sink approach.”
“I would have preferred a more focused discussion on what we mean by the rule of law and how the UN and member states can clearly advance it,” he said.
DEVELOPMENT LINKAGE
Despite these disappointments, the UN declaration marks an important advance by making an explicit linkage between building strong legal institutions where laws are enforced nationally and internationally, and economic growth, sustainable development and the eradication of poverty and hunger.
Jordan Ryan, assistant administrator of the UN Development Programme, said this linkage is a step forward and lays a building block for strengthening crisis prevention work and recovery.
“When we all agree that the rule of law is foundational at the international and national level, we get away from the rule of bullies, or states that do not want to live up to their obligations that are required to be part of the international community,” Ryan said.
He expects the declaration to inform discussions over a new set of development goals, when the UN’s current set of eight Millennium Development Goals, which cover topics such as halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and universal primary education, expire in 2015.
Despite the vagueness of the overall UN declaration, some 39 countries also made specific pledges on actions they would take to advance the rule of law. Among the United States’ promises were to support a range of UN justice training and legal development efforts, and at home to take steps to improve women’s access to justice and to tackle domestic violence -- themes stressed in the declaration and embraced by other countries. Thailand pledged to sign a protocol on children’s rights.
(Editing by Lisa Anderson)
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