Published 7 February 2018
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
St.Kitts-Nevis Tops the Caribbean on World Rule of Law Index
St.Kitts-Nevis tops the Caribbean on the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index, which looks at governance in 113 countries. The 2017-2018 report was released at the end of January with the previous one being released in 2016. This year’s report sees the twin-island state moving up 2 places from it’s previous ranking in 2016 and coming in at 28 overall and #1 in The Caribbean region. The other top Caribbean countries are Barbados at 30, and St. Lucia at 33, Antigua and 34, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are ranked at 36 and 37 respectively, while the Bahamas gets a global ranking of 40 and Dominica, 41.
According to the report, St.Kitts-Nevis’ ranking means it has a very stronge adherence to the rule of law. The report’s conclusions are drawn from eight areas: constraints on government powers; absence of corruption; open government; fundamental rights; order and security; regulatory enforcement; civil justice; and criminal justice.
The WJP Index measures the rule of law based on the experiences and perceptions of the general public and incountry experts worldwide. The country scores and rankings for the latest Index were reportedly derived from more than 110,000 household surveys and 3,000 expert surveys in the countries and jurisdictions. The World Justice Project is an independent, multidisciplinary organisation working to advance the rule of law worldwide. It was founded in 2006 as a presidential initiative of the American Bar Association before transitioning to an independent entity in 2009.
