The rule of law is receiving a ‘battering’ in ‘turbulent global political times’, the president of the International Bar Association (IBA) has warned.
Speaking in Rome this week at the IBA’s annual conference, Martin Šolc said a growing number of countries were ‘led or influenced by populists with no ideology, promising what their disaffected electorate wants to hear, often mainly reactionary change, an appeal to greater safety and efficiency, end of so-called elite establishment status quo, solutions that appeal to sectors of the public feeling disappointed or threatened by globalisation’.
The IBA has launched an education campaign to highlight the significance of the rule of law in everyday life, including eight short videos, each depicting one element of the rule of law, such as the right to a fair trial. The catchphrase for the videos is, ‘Look after the rule of law and it will look after you’.
Šolc asked all those present to download the videos and show them to as many people as possible to ‘create an avalanche’.
More than 5,000 individuals representing more than 2,700 law firms, corporations, governments and regulators are currently attending the conference in Rome. Romano Prodi, who was twice elected prime minister of Italy and who served as president of the European Commission (1999-2004) gave the keynote speech.
Prodi echoed Šolc’s warning on the rule of law, as populists are exploiting inequality and perceived negative consequences of globalisation.
He told the conference that he believed Brexit would be ‘painful and difficult’ but expressed doubt that a second referendum, if held, would yield a different result because he had to deal with ‘British exceptions’ on small things every day when he led the European Commission. However, he said he believed a compromise would be reached, safeguarding free trade at the expense of freedom of movement and social projects.
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