Council of Europe in push for rule of law
A guide entitled ‘The rule of law and why it matters – explained’ has been launched by a group of communications professionals from different international organisations and networks working on human rights in Europe.
The explainer from European experts seeks to break down the rule-of-law concept to aid public understanding.
The Council of Europe said that recent crises could be summarised as crises of the rule of law, which had increasingly come under pressure in Europe and worldwide.
The new guide seeks to make the concept, which can sometimes seem quite abstract or legalistic, accessible to broad audiences, the CoE states.
Crisis
“A similar type of crisis has afflicted countries across Europe and around the world: courts have been influenced; sometimes arbitrary judgments are given; people in positions of authority seem to act with impunity; some politicians even rail against the idea that the law itself should apply; law is used to harass political opponents; people feel that the system is unfair; and all this has led to an erosion of confidence in in our democratic societies,” the Council of Europe stated.
“Many people, however, either take the rule of law for granted or do not fully understand its importance. To fix this, the rule of law needs to be understood,” it adds.
“In short, the rule of law means that the law rules.
“It is a guarantee of justice and accountability, as well as the human rights and freedoms of every individual under the law.”
A promotional video has also been produced.