Lebanon ranked 106th out of 140 countries by rule of law index

BEIRUT — The international organization World Justice Project (WJP) on Wednesday ranked Lebanon 106th out of 140 countries in its rule of law index, a score that dropped from the previous year. Lebanon was ranked sixth out of eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

The other countries surveyed in the region are Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

In a report published on its website, the WJP "found that the rule of law has declined globally for the fifth consecutive year," stating that "trends toward authoritarianism" continue in the majority of countries surveyed. The report said that respect for the rule of law has declined in 61 percent of countries this year, including Lebanon.

The report drew on in-depth surveys of more than 154,000 households and 3,600 lawyers and experts to measure the rule of law across eight factors: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, basic rights, order and security, enforcement of regulations, civil justice, and criminal justice. The factor scores are averaged to assign an overall rule of law score to each country.

Lebanon's total score "fell by less than 1 percent" in this year's index. But the country ranks 106th out of 140 countries worldwide, dropping two positions since last year," the text details. Significant trends for Lebanon include "an improvement in the factor measuring order and security," it adds.

The best-performing countries in this region were the United Arab Emirates (ranked 37th out of 140), followed by Jordan and Tunisia. The three countries with the lowest scores in the region are Lebanon, Iran, and Egypt. Over the past year, the scores of seven of the eight countries have declined, as they did the year before.

On the criteria of "absence of corruption" and "criminal justice," Lebanon ranks last of the eight countries in the region surveyed. It ranks second to last on the criteria "fundamental rights," "order and security" and "civil justice."

Globally, "4.4 billion people live in a country where the rule of law has declined over the past year," the report said. The highest-ranked country in the WJP 2022 Rule of Law Index is Denmark, followed by Norway, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The lowest-ranked country is Venezuela, followed by Cambodia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti.

The World Justice Project is an international civil society organization whose stated mission is "to work for the advancement of the rule of law around the world."