Welcome to Indian Newslink October 15, 2021 Digital Edition
Venkat Raman
Auckland, October 15, 2021
Rule of Law Index
Governments, it would seem, are keen to tighten their administrative grip, given the slightest opportunity. That statement was evident in the Annual Report of the Washington DC based World Justice Project (WJP) Index 2021 published this morning (October 15, 2021).
The Index is used as an indicator of political and legal freedom in the Basel AML Index, a money laundering risk assessment tool developed by the Basel Institute on Governance.
The Index contains the Rule of Law status of 139 countries across the Continents and notes that more and more countries are failing in the Rule of Law test, exacerbated by the raging Covid-19 pandemic. That is almost 85% of the world, accounting for about 6.5 billion people.
The decline is in one or more of the following areas: civic participation, freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of assembly and association and increased delays in administrative, civil, or criminal proceedings.
The Index ranked countries on a scale of 0.90 (the highest) to 0.27 (the lowest) based on adherence to Rule of Law.
New Zealand has maintained its high status, ranking 7th out of 139 countries across the world and was ranked on top of 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific Region. On the global scene,
Denmark and Norway were ranked Number 1 and 2 with an overall score of 0.90, followed by Finland (0.88), Sweden (.86), Germany (0.84) and Netherlands and New Zealand (0.83).
At the end of Index are Venezuela at 139th place with an overall score of 0.27, preceded by Cambodia (138, with a score of 0.32), Congo (137), Egypt (136), Cameroon (135) and Afghanistan (134), all with a score of 0.35.
Australia scored 0.79 to be ranked 13th, India, with a score of 0.50 was ranked 79th, while China scored 0.47 was placed 98th on the Index.
The Confusion over Culturally Arranged Married Visa: Six immigration lawyers and advisors including Alastair McClymont (McClymont & Associates), Anu Kaloti (Licensed Immigration Adviser, Migrant Workers Association), Arran Hunt (Stace Hammond), Katy Armstrong (Licensed Immigration Adviser on behalf of Reunite Families New Zealand), Pooja Sundar and Stewart Dalley (D&S Law) have issued a clarification to clear the confusion caused by some claims over the Culturally Arranged Married Visa.
According to them, The Culturally Arranged Marriage Visitor Visa (CAM) has existed as a separate Visa category for a number of years. This Visa category was initiated specifically for couples who were entering an arranged marriage following their established cultural traditions. As such, living together has never been a requirement for a CAM Visa.
Immigration Criteria
Immigration criteria to be met include that the Culturally Arranged Marriage must follow an identified cultural tradition where the arrangements for the marriage, including the initial selection of the persons to be married, are made by persons who are not parties to the marriage. The New Zealand based partner must be a New Zealand citizen or resident. If successful, the applicant may be granted a Visitor Visa for three months from their date of arrival in New Zealand.
Paucity of space precluded us from repeating that story in our October 15, 2021 Digital Edition. You can read that story on our website (www.indiannewslink.co.nz) or here.
The Edition has the usual departments including Current Affairs, Home stories, Education, Business, Opinion, Community, Entertainment and Sports. We have devoted appropriate space for the debate on Covid-19 Vaccination and the current drive. Please read the issue and share it with your associates, family and friends.
