Rule of Law Award Selection Criteria

The Rule of Law Award (formerly referred to as the CEELI Award) was established in 1994 to honor leaders, and the countries they represent, who have taken significant steps towards implementing democratic and market reforms in their country. The recipient of the Rule of Law Award must agree to receive the award personally at the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting. Only one person is typically honored each year. The Rule of Law Initiative board selects the recipient based on the following criteria:

• The progress of legal reform, on a structural basis, in the nominee’s country: the nominee must have acted to change the country’s legal structure to ensure the establishment of an independent legal system.
• The protection of human rights in the nominee’s country: the nominee must have taken important steps to ensure the protection of individual rights, to address ethnic tensions, and to build a civil society.
• The advancement of a free market economy in the nominee’s country: the nominee will have fostered legislation or taken other steps designed to establish a free market economy.
• The international stature of the nominee: the nominee will have used his position as a head of state or other position to advance democracy and the rule of law not only in his or her country, but throughout the region and the world.