USAID PROMOTES THE RULE OF LAW
IN LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN DEMOCRACIES
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RULE OF LAW
In Latin America and the Caribbean region, one of the greatest
challenges of development is enabling the region’s justice
systems to effectively maintain order, successfully deter
crime, and fairly decide cases, while at the same time protecting
the rights of the accused. USAID has helped to establish a
more just and efficient legal system in several countries
in the region.
USAID funds and manages projects to strengthen the rule of
law through partner organizations that work for change in
those countries. The Agency’s Office of Democracy and
Human Rights in the Bureau for Latin America and Caribbean
Affairs oversees regional strategies to reform courts, enable
greater access to justice, and end practices of impunity for
government and military officials. These projects are essential
to strengthen democracies in the region, create greater stability
and security, and attract greater inflows of foreign investment.
In effect USAID’s rule of law program serves several
vital and strategic U.S. interests.
Societies can be greatly weakened by judicial systems in
which certain citizens are above the law, while others are
victimized by unfair processes or inadequate access to justice.
Without much-needed judicial reforms, many of the region’s
courts would ontinue to operate under antiquated laws adopted
from former colonial regimes. Under corrupt or inefficient
justice systems, the poor and other disenfranchised are granted
less access to justice, court proceedings are long and unproductive,
and delays can disable the court system. Defendants may spend
years in jail before even going to trial, while gross offenders
of human rights too often escape punishment.
The crime and corruption that result when the rule of law
is not effective can be costly. According to a corruption
and crime study by Center for Strategic and International
Studies, a corrupt or inefficient justice sector can slow
economic development, undermine the strength and credibility
of democratic institutions, and erode the social capital necessary
for development.1
Economists with the World Bank estimate that Latin America’s
average per capita income would be 25 percent higher if it
had a crime rate comparable to the typical crime rate in the
rest of the world.
Reinforcing this is the fact that the costs of crime and
violence in Latin America in 1997 amounted to 14.2 percent
of the region’s gross domestic product. Those costs
were as high as 25 percent of the GDP in Colombia and El Salvador.2
These data argue that countries of the region have a vital
interest to improve the rule of law to improve their security,
make their economies more productive, and maintain public
support for more legitimate and effective democratic systems.
U.S. INTERESTS IN PROMOTING THE RULE OF LAW
By helping countries to establish just and effective legal
systems, the United States is able to strengthen democracies
in the region, increase their legitimacy in the eyes of citizens,
and bolster support for their democratic institutions. Judicial
reform not only supports the idea of democracy for which the
U.S. stands, it actually aids the mechanics of democracy,
as well, ensures that justice functions effectively and transparently.
A desire to support and strengthen democracy in the region
is not the United States’ only motivation to work with
those countries to help them establish the rule of law, however.
Other factors include commercial interests, security matters,
and humanitarian concerns. Countries with more effective and
equitable justice systems provide more stable and attractive
environments for investment, as they provide legal protections
for investors. Increased investment invigorates local economies,
promotes economic growth, and creates a favorable environment
for U.S. investors.
Establishing the rule of law also helps to fight crime more
effectively, and in the process improve security in those
countries and throughout the region. In the new environment
of security concerns and the War on Terror, the stability
of the hemisphere is a high priority for the United States,
especially as it recognizes that, in the post-Cold War environment,
“the greatest threats to U.S. interests at home and
abroad stem not from conquering states, but from failing ones.”3
In short, for the United States to prosper and be secure,
other states must prosper and be secure. Supporting the rule
of law is one way to make the region safer for all.
For all of these reasons, USAID pioneered efforts to promote
the rule of law in Latin America and the Caribbean. “When
USAID first began actively exploring cooperative programs
to strengthen judicial systems in the early 1980s, no other
donors were working the field, and little effort was being
made at national levels.”4
Through the years, USAID has successfully supported wide-sweeping
judicial reforms that have effectively transformed the legal
systems of several countries in the region. By the early 1990s,
rule of law programs were established as important elements
in most USAID ountry strategies there.
USAID’s efforts also fueled a judicial reform movement
that spread across the region, capturing the attention of
civil society leaders and non-governmental organizations (NGO’s).
The issue of the rule of law became a key theme in presidential
campaigns in countries like Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Initiatives
to strengthen the rule of law throughout the region have now
been endorsed by the General Assembly of the Organization
of American States (OAS) and the Summit of the Americas.
Back to Top ^
|
