The United States and its local and international partners have long prioritized the rule of law in Kosovo. However, until recently, there has not been a reliable metric for measuring and comparing Kosovo’s rule of law to other countries of the world and region. The USAID-funded World Justice Project (WJP) added Kosovo to the Rule of Law Index in 2020 for the first time, providing Kosovo with its first reliable third-party metric for measuring the rule of law.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Palmer, then USAID Assistant Administrator Brock Bierman, and Kosovo Minister of Justice Selim Selimi all spoke at the publication of the WJP’s annual review on December 15, 2020. According to the report, Kosovo’s rule of law sector scored in the top half of all 128 countries and ranked second in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. Kosovo scored better on government accountability than on the government’s performance of its duties toward citizens. The report also noted that a common thread among Kosovo’s strengths is an engaged society that feels empowered to voice its concerns, while rule-of-law challenges in Kosovo include timeliness and effectiveness in regulatory enforcement and civil and criminal justice
USAID funded the first two years of WJP’s operations in Kosovo (2018-19), setting the foundation for WJP to gather sufficient data and information to include Kosovo in the 2020 report. Going forward, USAID will gradually hand over financing responsibilities to Kosovo’s Ministry of Justice during the next two years. A regular, annual third-party metric of the rule of law will provide governmental authorities, civil society, and donors with developing trends and concrete information for informing future strategic decisions. USAID currently uses the WJP as a third-party institution for gaging a partner country’s commitment to open government as a measure of progress toward self-reliance.
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