International Organizations The UN is an international organization, meaning that it is comprised of govern-ments from many different countries, and it is established by a treaty agreed to by these countries. Beyond the UN, there are a range of other international organizations that also provide rule of law assistance around the world.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM)55 works for humane and orderly migration. In terms of rule of law assistance, it focuses on counter-trafficking, complex land and property issues, and victim reparations after conflict.57 IOM has both regional and country offices.
The Organizations for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD), through its Development Assistance Committee, focuses on issues of justice and security reform in developing and conflict-affected countries (although it does not have field presence in countries).
Another two rule of law-focused inter-governmental organizations of note are the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), which provides constitution-making assistance and the International Development Law Organisation (IDLO), which is committed to enabling governments and empowering people to reform laws and strengthen institutions.
An important hybrid organization should be mentioned here: the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The ICRC is a private association under
Swiss law, but its functions and activities are mandated by the international community. The ICRC has a mandate to visit detainees and inspect detention facilities during conflict and in situations of violence. It also provides prison reform assistance in conflict-affected countries.
Regional Organizations
Regional organizations are international organizations, whose member-countries all come from a specific region. Regional organizations have become increasingly more involved in rule of law assistance.
Regional organizations tend to focus their efforts on their region or countries within their membership, with the exception of the European Union, which provides rule of law assistance around the world.
As part of efforts to promote the rule of law, regional organizations may conduct peacekeeping missions with the UN. Some regional organizations will undertake one-off rule of law projects, while others have in-country offices and provide rule of law assistance directly either to the government or civil society in a conflict-affected country. The European Union even has specific rule of law focused field missions in Kosovoand Afghanistan, while other missions such as the mission in Libya work on rule of law related issues as part of a broader mandate.
Legislative drafting and ensuring consistency of legislation in a region, for the purpose of prosecuting transnational crimes, are important elements of rule of law assistance for some regional organizations. For example, the
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American States (through the Justice Studies Center of the Americas), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Pacific Islands Forum (through its Secretariat) work to provide legislative drafting assistance to their members in the area of rule of law reform.
The following list is a non-exhaustive list of regional organizations that provide rule of law assistance in one form or another:
African Regional Organizations
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Latin American Regional Organizations
The Organization of American States Other a range of country member-states) in nature. The multilateral development banks provide loans and grants to
developing and conflict-affected countries to promote economic development and reduce poverty. They also provide
“professional advice for economic and social development activities in developing countries.”
The growing belief that poverty can be defined broadly to include a lack of justice and rule of law, in addition to the belief that rule of law is necessary to support
economic development and private sector development, led to the multilateral development banks engaging in rule of law assistance from the 1980’s onwards.
The World Bank is the most well know of the multilateral development banks.
Its rule of law assistance activities have expanded over the years from focusing solely on the development of state institutions and laws to working with civil society and “legal empowerment”
activities. It has country-offices in more than 100 countries.
In addition to the World Bank, there are also regional development banks, including the Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the African Development Bank. Both the Asian Development Bank and the African Development Bank have begun to focus on rule of law and access to justice. They both have offices in developing and conflict-affected countries.
Bilateral Donors
Countries that provide rule of law assistance directly to another country are called “bilateral donors”. Depending on the country in question, assistance can come from the Ministry of Justice (or Department of Justice), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its equivalent, the Ministry of Defense, or another Ministry.
With most bilateral donors, there is usually more than one Ministry or Department providing assistance to a conflict-affected country. There can even be multiple offices within one Ministry or Department providing assistance (that is often not coordinated). This can be very confusing for those in country because these ministries or departments
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can be pursuing different approaches and have different priorities. For example, the United States has seven Cabinet level departments and twenty-eight agencies, bureaus, and offices involved in rule of law reform, from the Department of Defense to the Department of the Treasury.
In addition, many countries have a Ministry or Department (usually within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) dedicated to providing development assistance.
Examples of development ministries or departments that are particularly active in providing rule of law assistance are:
United States
The US Agency for International Development (USAID)
United Kingdom
The UK Department for International Development (DFID)
Sweden
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
Belgium
The Belgian Development Agency (BDA) Denmark
The Danish International Development Agency (under the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Ireland
IrishAid (under the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
Germany
Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Switzerland
The Swiss Agency for International Development and Cooperation Norway
Norwegian Agency for Cooperation Japan
Japan International Cooperation Agency
In Sweden, there is also a government agency devoted entirely to working in conflict-affected countries – the Folke Bernadotte Academy.
Some bilateral donors will have their own offices in country, while others will
be based at the Embassy of their home state in the country they are working in. In some cases, as will be discussed below, some bilateral donors will contract the implementation of their projects to private consulting firms, universities, or international non-governmental organizations, which may or may not have a country office.
International Non-governmental Organizations, Foundations, and Others
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can be nationally focused or internationally focused. NGOs, whose mandates are not limited to a particular country, are called “international NGOs.”
Each international NGO has its own area of focus. Some may be dedicated to helping provide legal assistance to poor people, while others may be focused on anti-corruption efforts, for example. Some international NGOs use the services of volunteer lawyers (e.g., Lawyers Without Borders), who have full-time jobs in their home countries but who travel for short periods of time to conflict-affected countries to provide assistance. Other international NGOs have full-time staff.
Examples of international NGOs that provide rule of law assistance include the following:
• The American Bar Association provides legal reform assistance with a special focus on working with lawyers and bar associations.
• Amnesty International undertakes research and advocacy on human rights abuses.
• Article 19 works on the defense of the freedom of expression and the freedom of information.
• The Association for the Prevention of Torture focuses on upholding human rights in places of detention.
• Avocats Sans Frontieres (Lawyers without Borders) provides free assistance on rule of law, capacity building, and access to justice.
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• Human Rights Watch undertakes research and advocacy on human rights abuses.
• International Legal Alliances –
Microjustice for All focuses on delivering legal assistance to the poor as well as ensuring they know their rights.
• The International Bar Association seeks to shape the future of the legal profession around the world (includes a Human Rights Institute).
• The International Corrections and Prisons Association provides assistance in prison reform around the world.
• The International Legal Foundation assists conflict-affected countries to set up public legal aid programs.
• International Rehabilitation for the Victims of Torture focuses on the prevention of torture and the rehabilitation of torture victims.
• International Senior Lawyers Projects provides volunteer legal services by senior lawyers to assist on legal reform programs.
• No Peace Without Justice works on the promotion of human rights, rule of law, and international justice.
• Penal Reform International works on prisons and criminal justice reform.
• The Public Interest Law and Policy Group provides free legal assistance to states and governments.
• The Peace and Justice Service (Servicio Paz y Justicia en America Latina) focuses on truth-finding and justice in the process of democracy building in Latin America.
It is also worth mentioning quasi-NGOs that are quasi-NGOs but also have governmental status. For example, the United States Institute of Peace is a US federal institute and an NGO.
There are also many foundations that are working on rule of law. A foundation, like an NGO, is non-governmental in nature. It is established to make grants in a particular field. Foundations such as the Asia Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Open Society
Foundations all fund projects related to rule of law, justice, and security.
Finally, universities can also provide rule of law assistance. Universities and international non-governmental organizations may receive their funding to provide rule of law assistance from private sources like foundations. In addition, they can receive funds from bilateral donors.
Private Firms and Corporations With more and more money being invested into rule of law assistance, the for-profit sector saw an opportunity. Existing businesses were either expanded to include overseas rule of law assistance or businesses were established dedicated to implementing rule of law assistance projects in developing and post-conflict countries.
Private firms and corporations are increasingly being used by bilateral donors to implement their rule of law projects. For example, the US Agency for International Development and the UK Department for International Development rely heavily on private firms to implement projects. These firms will go through a competitive tender process in order to win the bid for a particular project. The so-called “funder” (the bilateral donor) will specify the tasks that it wants the firm or corporation to undertake with the money it has assigned for the project. The funder will oversee the implementation of the project, and the firm will be required to report periodically on its performance. The firm may hire full-time project staff and have an office in a conflict-affected country. In the alternative, its staff may travel back and forth to the country in question. It can be quite confusing for those in country to distinguish between private firms and government agencies.
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CHAPTER 1 Part 5 ENDNOTES
26 See, for example, Stephen Golub, “A House without a Foundation,” in Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: The Search for Knowledge, ed. Thomas Carothers (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2006).
27 Ibid., 109.
28 Ibid.; Thomas Carothers, “The Rule of Law Revival,” 77 Foreign Affairs (1998): 95–106; and Vivienne O’Connor, Practitioner’s Guide:
Understanding the International Rule of Law Community, Its History, and Its Practice (Washington, DC: INPROL, June 2015).
29 See, for example, Rachel Kleinfeld, Advancing the Rule of Law Abroad: Next Generation Reform (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2012).
30 O’Connor, Understanding the International Rule of Law Community.
31 USAID Albania, USAID/Albania Strategic Plan FY 1998-2002, May 1998: 89.
32 USAID Albania, USAID/Albania Strategic Plan FY 1998-2002, May 1998: 90.
33 Deval Desai, Deborah Isser, and Michael Woolcock, “Rethinking Justice Reform in Fragile and Conflict-Affected States: The Capacity of Development Agencies and Lessons from Liberia and Afghanistan,” in World Bank Legal Review, vol. 3, International Financial Institutions and Global Legal Governance, ed. Hassane Cisse, Daniel Bradlow, and Benedict Kingsbury (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011).
34 See Report of the Secretary-General, “Uniting Our Strengths: Enhancing United Nations Support for the Rule of Law,” S/2006/980, S/2006/980/Corr.1, December 14, 2006, http://www.unrol.org/article.aspx?n=Rule%20of%20Law%20Coordination%20and%20 Resource%20Group.
35 See Report of the Secretary General, “Strengthening and Coordinating United Nations rule of law activities,” A/63/226, 6 August 2008, [48].
36 Global Focal Point, “Global Focal Point: Police, Justice & Corrections Fact Sheet,” February 2015, http://www.undp.org/content/
dam/undp/library/Democratic%20Governance/Access%20to%20Justice%20and%20Rule%20of%20Law/Fact_Sheet_Global_Focal_
Point_for_Police_Justice_and_corrections_Feb2015.pdf.
37 See, for example, UN Secretariat, “Assessment of Member States’ Contributions to the United Nations Regular Budget for the Year 2015,” ST/ADM/SER.B/910, December 29, 2014.
38 UN General Assembly, “Programme Budget for the Biennium 2014–2015,” A/68/6/Add.1, 110, April 22, 2014.
39 UN General Assembly, “Approved Resources for Peacekeeping Operations for the Period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016, Note by the Secretary-General,” A/C.5/69/24, 3, June 26, 2015.
40 UN Peacekeeping, “Financing Peacekeeping,” http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/financing.shtml.
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CONSIDER
CONSIDER Common criticisms of the international rule of law community include:41
• Their priorities are driven by donor interests, not the actual needs of the community
• They do not share information, resulting in inadequate coordination
• Their organizations overlap or duplicate their work, resulting in wasted resources
• They lack a comprehensive strategy
• They do not understand the complexities and dynamics of the context
• They try to lead reforms rather than facilitate local ownership
• They are untrustworthy or dishonest
Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Approach to Rule of Law Assistance (2008) details eight guiding principles for UN rule of law activities that apply in all circumstances, including in conflict, postconflict, and development contexts. The full text in French and English can be found at: http://www.unrol.org/doc.aspx?doc_id=2124.
This is a tool for holding UN partners accountable for their actions in promoting rule of law. The principles can be summarized as follows (but note that this list is not exhaustive):
• Base assistance on international norms and standards
• Take account of the political context
• Base assistance on the unique country context
• Advance human rights and gender justice
• Ensure national ownership
• Support national reform constituencies
• Ensure a coherent and comprehensive strategic approach
• Engage in effective coordination and partnerships
For a more detailed explanation of these principles, see O’Connor, Understanding the International Rule of Law Community, 27–32.
CHAPTER 1 PART 6 ENDNOTE
41 O’Connor, Understanding the International Rule of Law Community, 23–26.