This book is a worldwide survey of legal aid containing more than seventy responses from ministries of justice, attorney generals, law societies, bar councils and individual lawyers to a detailed questionnaire. The results, set out here in summary form, are probably the most complete survey of its kind since the Lane and Hillyard edition of the Directory in 1985. The Editor of The New International Directory of Legal Aid, former legal aid solicitor Peter Soar, says: `In preparing this new edition I have learnt from previous users that the Directory is a valuable aid for Legal Aid Boards and law schools as well as individual lawyers.' In these pages you will find the ground work of legal aid systems in some of the most diverse legal jurisdictions from the Common Law countries of England and the Commonwealth to those which employ the approach of the Napoleonic Code. Here are systems adapted to the needs of the inhabitants of Caribbean islands, central European and Baltic states, emerging African peoples, the successors to ancient Indian empires, and countries of the Pacific Rim. The different forms of legal aid are of interest to practitioners and academics but the claims of the book go further than that. Just and fair societies depend on the maintenance of the rule of law. If the legal system, and in the last resort, the courts themselves are not within the reach of all citizens then talk of their rights is empty. If poor, weak, or powerless members of society are denied access to the courts because of lack of means, or if that access depends on the willingness of some lawyers to undertake cases pro bono, it is difficult to argue that in that state human rights are any more than forms rather than reality. If lawyers themselves exchange their independence for involvement in the very process of litigation (so-called `no win, no fee'), can it be said that freedom is not compromised? Here the reader can judge what in his or her opinion is the standing in these debates of each of the jurisdictions surveyed, with the help of editorial comments and the Editor's Introduction.

The directory contains short descriptions of the legal aid system in 70.

Words and Phrases enables the practitioner to have at all times the precise meaning of a particular word or phrase. Definitions are taken from the Acts of Parliament, Halsbury's Laws of England, leading textbooks and verbatim judgments from all over the Commonwealth.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty, Second Edition addresses the persistence of poverty across the globe while updating and expanding the landmark work, Encyclopedia of World Poverty, originally published in 2006 prior to the economic calamities of 2008. For instance, while continued high rates of income inequality might be unsurprising in developing countries such as Mexico, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported in May 2013 even countries with historically low levels of income inequality have experienced significant increases over the past decade, including Denmark, Sweden, and Germany. The U.N. and the World Bank also emphasize the persistent nature of the problem. It is not all bad news. In March 2013, the Guardian newspaper reported, “Some of the poorest people in the world are becoming significantly less poor, according to a groundbreaking academic study which has taken a new approach to measuring deprivation. The report, by Oxford University’s poverty and human development initiative, predicts that countries among the most impoverished in the world could see acute poverty eradicated within 20 years if they continue at present rates.” On the other hand, the U.N. says environmental threats from climate change could push billions more into extreme poverty in coming decades. All of these points lead to the need for a revised, updated, and expanded edition of the Encyclopedia of World Poverty. Key Features: 775 evaluated and updated and 175 entirely new entries New Reader’s Guide categories Signed articles, with cross-references Further Readings will be accompanied by pedagogical elements Updated Chronology, Resource Guide, Glossary, and thorough new Index The SAGE Encyclopedia of World Poverty, Second Edition is a dependable source for students and researchers who are researching world poverty, making it a must-have reference for all academic libraries.

The International IDEA Handbook on Democracy Assessment is a robust and sensitive guide to assessing the quality of democracy and human rights in any country around the world. The Handbook introduces an easy-to-use and universal methodology for assessing the condition of democracy in any country, or its progress in democratisation, that has been developed in a three-year action programme at IDEA, the inter-governmental Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Sweden. The Handbook provides a means to measure systematically the full range of values, institutions and issues relating to modern democracy that is sensitive to the underlying principles and democracy and the differences between democracies themselves. It is therefore both universal in application and capable of responding to particular aspects of any one nation's democratic arrangements. The animating principle of the Handbook is that only citizens of a nation themselves are qualified to assess the quality of their own democratic arrangements. Thus, it provides a self-help guide, which gives academics, lawyers, political practitioners, journalists and interested citizens the tools to assess the state of their democracy, or any key aspects of their democracy. The Handbook is above all a practical working document that draws on the actual experience of assessing democracy in different countries, comparative knowledge and research, and democratic principles and practice. It gives a step-by-step guide to the purposes and methods of democracy assessment; who to involve; how to use the research tools; how to validate the findings; what standards of practice to adopt; and how to present and publicise a finished assessment. It contains extracts from completed assessments, guidance on the use of qualitative and quantitative data, examples of codes of democratic practice and international and regional standards, and a vast list of accessible data sources. The methodology was created by a team of political scientists assembled from all regions of the world by International IDEA and has been tried and tested in a variety of countries, including Bangladesh, El Salvador, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea and the United Kingdom. International organisations like the World Bank and UNECA are adapting it for in-country use. The four main authors and editors have been directly involved from the inception of the project - in developing and refining the methodology and participating in and advising on the nine country studies that form the essential practical core of experience on which this invaluable Handbook is based.

The five versions of the comprehensive settlement plan for Cyprus, which UN Secretary-General Annan tabled between 2002 and 2004, raised a variety of international law and European law questions. This book contains the first systematic analysis of the Annan plan, thereby providing an overview of the legal aspects of the Cyprus problem. It also discusses how the plan was intended to be accommodated in the European legal order. Did it comply with the fundamental principle of democracy, rule of law and human rights? Would a united Cyprus have been able to speak with one voice and to implement EU law properly? The Author, who has worked both for the European Commission and for the UN Special Advisor on Cyprus, presents a precise account of facts and thorough legal assessments. He also tackles current legal problems arising out of Cyprus' membership in the EU and the suspension of the "acquis communautaire" in the northern part of Cyprus. He finally analyses how the question of recognition affects the relations between Cyprus and Turkey. The book is an ideal choice for practitioners and researchers because it combines first hand information on the most recent developments on Cyprus with legal evaluations from an international official trained in international and European law.

This work brings together a number of papers written by experts, mostly senior and active international civil servants, but also retired staff, analyzing the measures taken in international organizations in order to obtain greater accountability. Codes of conduct have been introduced, as well as more detailed measures of control. This has also required review of due process and dispute resolution provisions. The main objective of these codes of conduct is to foster appropriate behaviour of staff, but, ideally, these codes should also be instrumental in avoiding disputes, since staff knew more clearly what is expected of them. This book is a reflection of exchanges of views and information between administrative lawyers and, to some extent, investigators/prosecutors to ensure that the organizations become more transparent, corruption free and respective of the highest standards. Accountability and transparency have now become the rule, and increasingly also the practice. Much is still to be done, however. Discussions are ongoing in many organizations. This work's purpose is also to contribute to these discussions. In addition to the analytic and frank contributions, this work contains various documents of international organizations, reflecting the codes of conduct and charters of values now in place.

The US administration's pursuit in Afghanistan of the terrorists responsible for the September 11th attacks was supported by an international coalition and backed by the legal authority of the UN Security Council Resolutions.

Central to the current development debate is the importance of human welfare in the context of group conflict. When considering ethnic, racial and religious conflict, this debate draws us toward a 'political economy' of conflict. Moreover, notions of an economic paradigm have become prominent when international organizations debate conflict prevention. In looking closer at the political economy of conflict, this publication argues the need to assimilate into our thinking distinct social and ethical economies of conflict prevention. A social economy of conflict prevention considers the interplay of economic with structural and cultural factors in conflict, explaining a much neglected category of conflict, i.e. hidden conflict. The ethical economy of conflict prevention considers implicit ethical statements development practitioners use. From these statements arise ethical paradoxes that influence the evolving economic paradigm, in such way as to contradict one of its intrinsic desires, namely, to restrict conflict prevention strategies to effective technical interventions. Eventually, such narrow focus on technical interventions could identify this evolving paradigm as an 'economical' paradigm. In contrast, a rethinking of the ethical economy of conflict prevention provides a useful tool for international organizations when implementing a human rights-based approach to development and long-term conflict prevention.