The rule of law is a thousand-year-old principle that refers to the way States are governed. Compared to the rule of law, where government uses the law to govern and is considered above the law, the rule of law means that all entities, including government, must respect the rule of law. The rule of law is a near-universal value, and the UN General Assembly regularly identifies “human rights, the rule of law and democracy” as universal and indivisible values of the UN. The United Nations has also prioritized Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG 16): peace, justice and strong institutions. In particular, SDG 16 stresses that the rule of law plays a key role in promoting “peaceful, just and inclusive societies and. ensure sustainable development. One of the goals of SDG 16 is to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels to ensure equal access to justice for all. For this reason, judges should be well-trained, professional, independent and impartial. To fulfil the necessary role in the legal and political system, judges must respect the principles of democracy. A jury is usually composed of 12 citizens chosen from the general population. They hear all the evidence and decide whether they consider an accused guilty or innocent.
Juries represent the public at a trial and provide democratic power to balance the powers of state officials. Over the years, the United Nations has promoted the rule of law at the international level by consolidating and developing an international framework of norms and norms, establishing international and hybrid tribunals and out-of-court mechanisms. It refined its framework for engagement with the rule of law at the national level by providing assistance in drafting constitutions; the national legal framework; justice, governance, security and human rights institutions; transitional justice; and strengthening civil society.4 The 2008 Secretary-General`s Guide on the United Nations Rule of Law Support sets out basic principles and a framework to guide United Nations rule of law activities at the national level. In addition, in its 2009 United Nations Guide to Support Constitutional Processes, it outlined the components of constitutional processes and recognized that these processes are a central aspect of democratic transitions. Criminal law defines a person`s responsibility to society as a whole. Violation of a criminal law is a crime against the common good, so the state prosecutes criminals on behalf of the public. Civil law deals with the liability of one person to another person. Civil laws include agreements between people, such as ownership of property, contracts, or marriage. A common feature of democracy and the rule of law is that a purely institutional approach says nothing about the actual results of processes and procedures, even if they are formally correct. In addressing the relationship between the rule of law and democracy, a fundamental distinction must be made between the “rule of law”, where the law is an instrument of government and government is above the law, and the “rule of law”, which implies that everyone in society is bound by the law. including the government. Essentially, constitutional limitations on power, an essential feature of democracy, require respect for the rule of law.
Thus, citizens in democracies are willing to obey the laws of their society because they submit to their own rules and regulations. Justice is best served when laws are made by those who must obey them. Most people obey the law because they believe it leads to a peaceful society. The law is enforced by the POLICE. The risk of being caught and punished by the police reminds most people to obey the law. But some political activists deliberately break laws they disagree with – an act called “civil disobedience.” Paragraph 7 of the General Assembly Declaration on the Rule of Law called for a strong rule of law perspective to be reflected in the post-2015 international development agenda. The ongoing debate on the post-2015 outlook offers a unique opportunity to highlight the links between democracy, human rights and the rule of law. In order to ensure national accountability in the context of democratic ownership, it is essential to take into account both the democratic dimension and the rule of law of the next generation of Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals and the potential value of a voluntary goal for democracy, human rights and the rule of law in order to contribute to the advancement of the development agenda. The rule of law is closely linked to the ideals of democracy.
A democratic state governed by the rule of law is one where citizens elect their own leaders, and the government itself is bound by the law while helping to ensure that the law is respected by the state`s citizens. Democracy cannot exist without the rule of law, particularly without the rule of who should hold public office in the light of the results of elections. However, it is not enough to support the rule of law during a single election season. Democratic stability depends on a self-binding balance. In other words, politicians must respect the limits of their actions in a democracy, especially with regard to citizens` rights. Institutions that support each other and do not function on the basis of the individuality of individual actors are powerful actors that stabilize this balance. In a stable and autonomous institution, all conflicts are resolved according to institutional rules, and thus the rule of law stabilizes democratic society. The rule of law in a democratic institution allows governments to impose their will through general laws and then be subject to that legislation themselves. During the negotiations on the General Assembly Declaration on the Rule of Law, some Member States stressed the need for the international community to provide assistance and support at the request of countries emerging from conflict or in the process of democratization, as it does to address the legacy of human rights violations during their transition and transition to democratic and democratic governance. The rule of law could face particular challenges. Finally, the concept was reformulated in paragraph 18, referring only to the specific challenges of the transition, without mentioning democratization.
However, this debate has shown that there is a growing awareness of the importance of building on the experience of the last 30 years, especially in the Global South, with multiple and often simultaneous transitions – from war to peace, from command to market economy, from autocratic systems to democratic systems – in order to support local democratisation processes. None of these restrictions means that the state does not have the power to enforce the law and punish violators. On the contrary, the criminal justice system in a democratic society will be effective to the extent that its administration is deemed fair by the public and protects the rights of individuals and the public interest.