UAE tops MENA in global rule of law progress for 2023
The UAE topped the Middle East and North Africa region in the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index for 2023, while it ranked the 37th globally, scoring 0.64 points on the general index.
The WJP Rule of Law Index is the world’s leading source of original, independent rule of law data. Its rigorous methodology draws on expert and household surveys to measure rule of law in 142 countries and jurisdictions, covering 95% of the world’s population.
The rule of law has once again eroded in a majority of countries this year, according to the (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2023. More than 6 billion people live in a country where the rule of law weakened between 2022 and 2023.
Each country’s score is an average of eight factors: Constraints on Government Powers, Absence of Corruption, Open Government, Fundamental Rights, Order and Security, Regulatory Enforcement, Civil Justice, and Criminal Justice.
The UAE ranked the 10th globally in the “Order and Security” factor, scoring 0.91 points, surpassing many countries such as Malta, Austria, Canada and Germany. It measures factors that endanger public order and security, in terms of traditional crimes and political violence.
The UAE also ranked the 19th globally in the “Absence of Corruption” factor, scoring 0.78 points, the 24th in the “Criminal Justice” factor, scoring 0.68 points, the 26th in the “Regulatory Enforcement”, scoring 0.70 points, and the 28th in the “Civil Justice” factor, scoring 0.66 points.
Over the past seven years, Index scores for Constraints on Government Powers have fallen in 74% of countries.
Around the world, checks on executive power from legislatures, judiciaries, and civil society—including the media—have all weakened, the Index shows.
While this authoritarian trend persisted in every region of the world in 2023, it has slowed for the second year in a row. Constraints on Government Powers fell in 56% of countries this year, compared to 58% in 2022 and 70% in 2021. Likewise, a smaller majority of countries saw overall rule of law declines in this year (59%) as compared to the last two (61% and 74%).
The WJP Rule of Law Index evaluates the status of many of the human rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These include four out of five indicators that have declined the most during the global rule of law recession.
The top-ranked country in the 2023 WJP Rule of Law Index is Denmark, followed by Norway (2), Finland (3), Sweden (4), and Germany (5).
Two countries were added to the Index this year. Kuwait ranks 52 out of 142 globally and 2nd in the Middle East and North Africa region, while Montenegro comes in at 57 globally, and 2nd in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
