Serbia Drops 10 Places in Rule of Law Index

Belgrade (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

Serbia has regressed in the rule of law field according to the index of the World Justice Project (WJP), taking 93rd place among 142 countries on this year’s list and becoming the worst ranked country in the region.

For years now, WJP’s index has been registering a decline in the rule of law in Serbia, which was in the 83rd place last year. It was given the grade 0.48 this year, where 1 is the highest, and is 11th in a group of 15 countries of East Europe and Central Asia.

The best in that group are Georgia, Montenegro and Kosovo, while Belarus, Russia and Turkey were given the lowest grades. In the Western Balkans, the highest score was that of Montenegro (57th on the global list), which is followed by Kosovo (58th), North Macedonia (67th), Bosnia and Herzegovina (75th) and Albania (91st).

The index of the Washington-based non government organization WJP measures the development of the rule of law on the basis of eight factors. Serbia’s best grade was in the category “order and security,” in which it is in 57th place, and in “fundamental rights” and “civil justice.” Its worst grades were in the categories “constraints on government powers” (127th place), followed by “criminal justice” and “absence of corruption.”