EWC Hosts Honolulu Launch of UN Report on Legal Empowerment of the Poor

HONOLULU (July 17) – The East-West Center provided the venue this week for the Honolulu launch of “Making the Law Work for Everyone,” a new report on legal empowerment of the world’s poor by an independent commission supported by the United Nations.

According to the report by the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, some 4 billion people — the majority of people living on earth — are robbed of the chance to build a better life because they are excluded from the rule of law. The report calls on governments, international institutions and civil society to put legal empowerment front and center in the fight against global poverty. It identifies four crucial pillars which must be central in national and international efforts toward legal empowerment of the poor: access to justice and rule of law, property rights, labor rights and business rights.

Jointly chaired by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and prominent Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, the commission includes former heads of state, cabinet ministers, jurists, economic researchers and other senior policymakers from the North, South, East and West. Over three years, the commission conducted 22 national consultation processes with representatives from local governments, academia, civil society and grassroots movements.

“The commission’s report gives us a ‘ground reality’ to work from, but the real key now will be implementation,” said the commission’s executive director, Naresh Singh, in Honolulu. “Going forward, the best outcome would be if 12 or 15 pivotal countries would come forward as champions of these issues and begin to adopt the recommendations of the commission, which we think is a very feasible goal. Then the world would really sit up and listen.”

Since its global unveiling in New York in June, the commission’s report has been receiving additional launches at major meetings of relevant organizations worldwide. The July 15 Honolulu launch was held as part of an East-West Center workshop for top experts in the field of civil society engagement in national and global governance.

“We’re pleased that the East-West Center is able to be involved in the presentation of this significant report,” Center President Charles E. Morrison told the gathering of experts in governance and civil institutions. “The report sets out a challenging course in extending the rule of law to alleviate poverty, and the institutions of civil society are vital to putting that course into action.”

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The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.