In this Rule of Law Talk podcast conversation, WJP’s Joe Haley speaks with the founder of LawPàdí, a legal empowerment platform. LawPàdí pairs a legal referral service with innovative approaches to legal education, such as street law clinics and automated chat bots, in order to help Nigerians resolve their most common civil justice problems. The conversation touches on the security ramifications of access to justice in the Sahel, anddives into measures of program impact, the role of legal self-help, the strategic use of data, and the importance of building public trust. Ultimately, Ibidapo-Obe shares his vision for a streamlined system of justice in Nigeria.

Rule of Law Talk

Chat Bots to Street Law: Building Quick and Affordable Legal Services in Nigeria

In this Rule of Law Talk podcast conversation, WJP’s Joe Haley speaks with the founder of Femmes et Droits Humains, a non-governmental organization working to include Malian women in the justice and peacebuilding process. The conversation addresses the cultural disparities confronting Malian boys and girls as these pertain to education and access to justice, the effort to educate women about their rights under international law, and the importance of building a women’s movement to resist theocratic rule. There is also a sobering discussion about the Malian government’s reliance on customary justice to address instability. Note: This interview took place in March 2020.

Not for Me: Women’s Empowerment and the Limits of Traditional Justice in Mali

In this Rule of Law Talk podcast conversation, WJP’s Joe Haley speaks with the founder of tech startup Bankly, Tomiola Adejana. They met in the Hague, Netherlands, where Adejana had just been announced as the 2020 winner of the Innovating Justice Challenge, an incubator program run by the Hague Institute for Innovating Law. Their conversation explores Bankly’s strategy for using traditional networks to introduce digital finance to Nigeria’s “last mile.” They also discuss the strategic role of impact investment, the process of social entrepreneurship, and the regulatory challenges confronting a financial startup in Nigeria.

Banking on Nigeria’s Last Mile: How a Digital Startup Leveraged Traditional Networks

In the first Rule of Law Talk podcast installment for the Rule of Law Solutions Initiative, WJP's Joe Haley speaks with program officers from the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA-ROLI) and Association Temedt who are working to abolish the practice of descent-based slavery in Mali. The conversation revisits a successful two-year program, supported by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, which helped to raise awareness about descent-based slavery and obtain liberation and legal documentation for hundreds of victims. The discussion also touches the problem's historic roots, the difficulty of achieving legislative reform in the midst of a security crisis, and the importance of enlisting customary justice leaders.

Leveraging Informal Justice: How to Counter Descent-Based Slavery in Mali

World Justice Project Executive Director Elizabeth Andersen is joined by Christof Heyns, Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Pretoria and member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee, to discuss the right of peaceful assembly. A new General Comment issued this week by the United Nations Human Rights Committee provides guidance on this topic at a critical moment, with protest movements on the rise across the globe, any many countries grappling with the appropriate response—something that has become even more complicated with the COVID-19 pandemic and public health restrictions on large gatherings.

Christof Heyns: The Right of Peaceful Assembly

Killian Dorier, Senior Program Associate for Engagement at the World Justice Project, is joined by Nikole Nelson, Executive Director of the Alaska Legal Services Corporation, and Walter Flores, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Equity and Governance in Health Systems (CEGSS) to discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected indigenous communities in the United States and abroad, and what this additional pressure on countries' rule of law systems means for them.

Indigenous Communities & COVID-19: Local Challenges & Resilient Strategies for Building Back Better

The winners of the 2020 WJP Anthony Lewis Prize for Exceptional Rule of Law Journalism— Pavla Holcová, Arpád Soltész, and Eva Kubániová—personify the principle quoted by their outlet, "Even if you kill a journalist, you can never kill a story."

How a Corruption Investigation Sparked Reform in Slovakia

In a recent online event produced in partnership with the American Society of International Law and recorded on May 20, 2020, Professor Tom Ginsburg, Jacques deLisle, Andrea Kendall-Taylor, and Mark D. Agrast joined us to discuss international law in an age of rising authoritarianism, and implications in contemporary policy contexts including management of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

When Authoritarians Make International Law

The unprecedented public health emergency caused by COVID-19 is posing a major crisis for justice defenders around the world. Hina Jilani, a member of The Elders and Co-Chair of the Task Force on Justice, and Maaike de Langen, Program Lead on Justice For All with the Pathfinders, join WJP Chief Engagement Officer Ted Piccone to discuss challenges for delivering justice for all during the COVID-19 crisis, and how justice defenders should respond.

Justice for All in the Age of COVID-19

WJP research team members Alejandro Ponce, Alicia Evangelides, and Amy Gryskiewicz join WJP executive director Elizabeth Andersen to discuss the WJP Rule of Law Index 2020—an annual study of the state of the rule of law around the world. Following the recent launch of the 2020 Index, WJP's team of experts come together for a deep dive into what the WJP Rule of Law Index measures, how WJP gathers the data, and key insights into 2020 findings.

Global Trends in the Rule of Law

Margaret Lewis, Professor of Law at Seton Hall University, joins WJP Chief Engagement Officer Ted Piccone on Rule of Law Talk to discuss China's rise as a global power and its rule of law record. The World Justice Project has just released its annual WJP Rule of Law Index, based on surveys of expert practitioners and households in 128 countries and jurisdictions worldwide. For the last five years, China has scored significantly below global and regional averages. Its scores on factors measuring Constraints on Government Powers and Fundamental Rights are among the lowest in the world, while it performs better on Order and Security and Civil Justice.

The State of the Rule of Law in China

Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, joins WJP Chief Engagement Officer Ted Piccone to discuss the current state of of the human rights movement, and how the international human rights community should respond.

Hurst Hannum: Rescuing Human Rights

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Regents Professor and Robina Chair in Law, Public Policy, and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School joins WJP Chief Engagement Officer Ted Piccone on Rule of Law Talk to discuss emergency laws and human rights.

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin: Emergency Laws and Human Rights

The rule of law requires effective laws and institutions—but it also requires leadership. This week on Rule of Law Talk, WJP Executive Director Elizabeth Andersen is joined by two members of the Justice Leadership Group—Willy Mutunga and Salaheddin Al-Bashir—to discuss "What Makes a Justice Leader?"

What Makes a Justice Leader?

Joining us on this June 26 International Day in Support of Victims of Torture episode is Gerald Staberock. Mr. Staberock is Secretary General of the World Organization Against Torture, a coalition of nearly 300 organizations working against torture, summary executions, enforced disappearances and other forms of degrading treatment or punishment. Torture has long been considered a crime against humanity that allows no exception for necessity. Yet we know security forces continue to deploy torture and other forms of cruel pain and suffering to extract confessions or other information, or simply to terrify and dehumanize victims and their families. In this installment of Rule of Law Talk, we discuss what the international community is doing to address this problem, and what more needs to be done. Learn more about this episode here: bit.ly/2IKJlxV.

Gerald Staberock: The World Organization Against Torture

Rule of Law Talk features conversations with leading lights on the front lines of understanding and advancing government accountability, fundamental rights, open government, safety and security, access to justice, and other rule of law topics. This podcast is brought to you by World Justice Project.

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