Rule of Law

Why the Bank Promotes the Rule of law

One of the Bank's goals is to assist borrowing member country governments and their citizens to create and implement rule of law reform programs as a way to achieve sustainable development and consolidate their democratic systems. The Bank promotes rule of law in the region, seeking to make projects sensitive to national circumstances and suited in content and scope to the cultural, economic and political context of each country.

The Bank's work in rule of law is predicated on the understanding that the central characteristics of an effective justice system are fairness, impartiality, accessibility, efficiency, independence, public accountability, and credibility, without discrimination of any kind.

It is not possible to advance sustainable and equitable growth without progress in judicial certainty and equality before the law for all citizens. The development of investment and assumption of risk that form the basis of market economy development, are incompatible with uncertainty and delays in the protection of rights and obligations. The cost of this legal uncertainty is greater for the poor who, in addition to having their de facto civil and political rights denied, lack access to the formal economy, in part as a consequence of the risk premium that goes with the inability of the informal sector to rely on the formal justice system. This results in a lack of access to credit, property, and formal systems of production and work. Another specific manifestation of the deficiency in the rule of law is the high rate of corruption that the region suffers from, which is a product of impunity from justice, with devastating consequences on the confidence of economic actors and on the access to rights of the poor.

Priority Areas of Action

The State, Governance and Civil Society Division will support programs and projects that aim to: (i) strengthen the independence of the judiciary; (ii) implement programs for access to justice, including the promotion of justices of the peace; (iii) strengthen the capacity of the justice administration in the fight against corruption; (iv) develop modern systems for management and administration of judicial institutions and procedures; (v) promote alternative and complementary dispute-resolution methods, such as mediation, arbitration and conciliation; (vi) update substantive and procedural legislation, and (vii) protect citizen security, legal control of force and integrated judicial systems in the penal area.

How the Bank assists countries to attain effective justice systems.

Building an effective justice system requires sustained work over an extended period of time across a wide array of institutions. If the justice system is to function adequately, judges, prosecutors, public defenders, police, prison officials, legal aid attorneys, ombudsmen, rehabilitation officers and the private bar ? all must be able to carry out their roles competently. Justice reforms require considerable political will, resources and expertise. The Bank will support countries to work toward short-term successes, and to formulate and implement longer-term strategies in the sector. Through loans, grants for technical assistance, studies and support for seminars and conferences, the Bank will support borrowing member countries in:


Consensus-building and preparing the way for justice reforms:

Institutional strengthening in the justice sector


Training for justice sector actors


Involvement of citizens and civil society organizations active in the justice sector


Improving the legal framework: