IBA Rule of Law
Look after the Rule of Law, and it will look after you
These eight short videos that illustrate how our everyday lives are affected when the different elements that make up the rule of law are flouted. Each video is approximately one minute long. Please watch, and then share, the videos with your family, friends, colleagues and generally anyone in your network of contacts to enable a discussion about the importance of the rule of law and why we all need to do what we can to protect and promote it.
About the IBA Rule of Law Educational Project
Presented by the International Bar Association & the Danish Bar Association
As the Rule of Law faces increasing global challenges, it is the next generation that will shape its future. That is why, in line with its commitment to upholding the Rule of Law, the International Bar Association (IBA) is launching a new project aimed at raising awareness and inspiring young people to champion the Rule of Law throughout their civic lives: an educational programme tailored for secondary school students.
Rule of Law Film Series on the United Nations Charter
The United Nations Charter is the world’s most important secular document. It affirms the universal principles of human character and conduct that every nation has confirmed by signing the U.N. Charter, albeit often honoured in the breach.Most of the existential challenges now dominating the global agenda - climate change, wars of aggression, pandemics, massive migration, authoritarianism, nuclear annihilation, misinformation, and artificial intelligence - may initially appear disconnected from the Charter’s words drafted during the final year of World War II. But one would be mistaken to relegate the Charter to the archives of the twentieth century. Indeed, the Charter means more to the fate of the world today than at any other time during its 80-year history. Just as Americans explore the text of the US Constitution, particularly its Bill of Rights, to unravel complex issues confronting modern public and private life, they and other citizens of the world are governed by one secular document - the Charter - that is grounded in history’s lessons and expressive of the “forever law” that at least in theory guides global society.
The video clips below explain the origins of the Charter and examine how the Charter is structured to address global challenges, including those that now pose existential threats to the rule of law, human rights, democracy, and the environment.
The modern relevance of five core areas of the UN Charter - human rights and fundamental freedoms, international law, international peace and security, economic and social rights, and peacemaking - are illuminated in the film clips and present a modern interpretation of the Charter, one that resonates with young generations whose task will be to realise the vision of the Charter and lean on it to help navigate through the troubled waters of the rules-based international order.