The Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation will support the centre’s activities over the next four years (2024–2027) with a grant of €300,000. The funding is intended for the centre’s research, reports and publications and for hiring researchers.
— The Wihuri grant will enable the Rule of Law Centre to begin a new phase by launching its own research activities. Development cooperation must be based on research and knowledge, but major gaps remain in these areas, particularly in work involving the rule of law, says Tuija Brax, Director of the Rule of Law Centre.
The grant will allow the centre to acquire academic knowledge needed to address issues emerging in practical work and promote awareness of rule of law issues in Finland and abroad. Increasingly robust academic research on the rule of law also enables international scholarly collaboration in the field.
— To reverse the globally deteriorating rule of law situation, we must be able to produce international state-of-the art research and thus increase the impact of our work. A strong rule of law correlates with economic prosperity and provides the basis for sustainable growth and welfare in developing countries, especially in the Global South, notes Brax.
The Rule of Law Centre was established in spring 2021 by an agreement between the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the University of Helsinki. The centre is financed from the ministry’s development cooperation funds.
The Rule of Law Centre brings together top expertise in the field, generates knowledge and promotes the development of the rule of law through various projects, particularly in developing countries. The purpose of the centre is to make Finnish expertise and experience in rule of law issues available to authorities and universities in other countries as well as national and international organisations, among others. The centre launched its first international projects in 2022 in Albania, Mozambique and Uzbekistan.
The Rule of Law Centre is headed by Tuija Brax and currently has two other employees.
Further information:
Tuija Brax, Director
Rule of Law Centre
tuija.brax@helsinki.fi
+358 50 567 7214