Rule of Law Index 2012-2013 :

Lanka triumphs in justice index

* Outperforms regional peers

* Ranked second in Criminal Justice

Sri Lanka has received a high ranking in the World Justice Project’s (WJP) annual, Rule of Law Index. The report states that Sri Lanka “outperforms its regional peers in all but two dimensions”.

The WJP Rule of Law Index is an innovative quantitative assessment tool designed by the WJP offering detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice.

It provides original data regarding a variety of dimensions of the rule of law, enabling the assessment of a nation’s adherence to the rule of law in practice, identifying nation’s strengths and weaknesses in comparison to similarly situated countries, and tracking charges over time. To compile the report, researchers, use polls of experts and the public of the target countries. The 2012 – 2013 report is the result of interviewing 97,000 persons and 2,500 experts.

The newly released WJP Rule of Law Index 2012 – 2013 report is the third in an annual series and covers 97 countries. The report credited Sri Lanka with “outpace(ing) most lower-middle income countries in several areas, ranking second in criminal justice and third in the dimensions of open government, effective regulatory enforcement, and absence of corruption”.

Since its release, the WJP Rule of Law Index 2012 – 2013 has been reference in over 300 articles in 76 countries, including the Wall Street Journal, The Times of India, and Vedomosti.