Prominent experts from 95 nations say their new “Rule of Law Index” unveiled Thursday does just that — and could help the U.S. and others accused of abuse and compromise in the pursuit of terrorists recommit to basic principles of law and human rights.

“The so-called war on terror has brought with it subtle changes. We talk about ‘coercive interrogation’ instead of what it really is: torture,” former Irish President Mary Robinson told participants at the World Justice Forum in Vienna.

“We face the new ‘normal,’ which must be confronted,” she said. “For the majority of the world’s citizens, the rules of the game are fundamentally unfair.”

Potentially, the prototype index could be used to increase pressure on nations such as Zimbabwe, thrust into international isolation after sham elections, or Myanmar, where the ruling junta’s arrogant and ineffective decisions after a deadly cyclone endangered millions of lives.

But its architects insist the index is part of a broader effort to ensure everyone from farmers and fishermen to parliamentarians and prime ministers benefits from the rule of law.

“We are not in the blame and shame business,” said William H. Neukom, president of the American Bar Association, a founding member of the World Justice Project organizing this week’s conference.

Countries and communities committed to accountable governments, good laws, effective due process and ethical lawyers, prosecutors and judges “are less vulnerable to the horrors of the human condition,” Neukom said.

Although the U.S. is widely held up as a model of democracy and civil rights, it has been severely criticized for abuses at its detention center for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and its practice of “extraordinary rendition”: the CIA’s transfer of suspects to other countries for interrogation and, some allege, torture.

“The U.S. has a proud history ... but there have been failures in abiding by the rule of law,” Neukom acknowledged.

Organizers said the Rule of Law Index is still being built, but within three years should offer profiles on 100 nations. The World Justice Project has spent US$1.1 million on the initiative over the past two years.

It will not rank countries on a scale. Instead, it will offer comprehensive snapshots of how governments and court systems are performing in a number of key areas, based on numerous interviews with local experts and with 1,000 randomly selected citizens in any given nation.

Among the 13 key factors and 50 other variables used to measure a country’s behavior are corruption, respect for property rights, government officials’ accountability to the law, access to services and the existence, or not, of an impartial judiciary.

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