Yesterday, the World Justice Project published its ‘Rule of Law Index 2020’. The World Justice Project is an international NGO committed to advancing the rule of law. The main areas of its work are research and scholarships, engaging, i.e. activities aimed at developing a global network and the Rule of Law Index. The rule of law index provides information on the status of the rule of law in 128 countries. Countries are ranked on the basis of eight factors such as constraints on government, absence of corruption, open government and fundamental rights. The reports mainly draws on surveys in households in the respective countries and questionnaires answered by legal professionals.
North Macedonia ranked 58 out of 128 countries, placing it 3rd in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region behind Kosovo (global rank: 54) and Georgia (global rank: 42). Thus, North Macedonia fell back one rank compared to its results in the previous year. The countries rating was negatively impacted by its low score in the category ‘absence of corruption’ and ‘constraints on government powers’ while it received higher scores in the areas ‘order and security’