Promoting Independent Justice in a Changing World

Abstract

On 16 June 2011, the Human Rights Council renewed the term of its Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (‘Special Rapporteur’) for a further period of three years.1 The current appointee, Brazilian criminal court judge Gabriela Knaul, is mandated to investigate and report on alleged violations of the independence of judges and other participants in the justice system and make concrete recommendations to ‘improve the judicial system’ of countries around the world.2 Conceptions of an independent judiciary as a check on the government have become especially popular in recent months, following the events of the Arab Spring, where uprisings have demanded new political arrangements to distribute power concentrated in few hands. Sensing the growing appetite for reform, judges in these countries have touted their independence from the government as the means to usher in a new era of democratic governance and social stability associated with the rule of law. For example, Egyptian senior judge and vice chairman of the Court of Cassation, Zaghloul al-Balshy, recently stated that the Egyptian judiciary has ‘been fighting for over 30 years for independence and now the time may be right’.3