Access to Justice and Electoral Integrity II. Key principles for effective, timely and impartial administration of justice Given the close relationship between the rule of law, access to justice and electoral integrity, it is no surprise that the Global Commission underscored the importance of providing guarantees for political participation and representation. The effectiveness of such guarantees is closely related to the underlying principles that guide the action of those who hear and adjudicate cases. The Global Commission outlined its recommendations based on standards built through decades of work by the international community. These include documents with worldwide coverage, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but also regional documents that have provided guidance to States in shaping a Judiciary that provides effective, timely and neutral administration of justice. Article 2, paragraph 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), requires that in addition to effective protection of Covenant rights, States parties must ensure that individuals also have accessible and effective remedies to vindicate those rights. “States must take effective measures to ensure that all persons entitled to vote are able to exercise that right. […] Any abusive interference with registration or voting as well as intimidation or coercion of voters should be prohibited by penal laws and those laws should be strictly enforced.”15 At the regional level, instruments such as the American Convention on Human Rights include “the right to simple and prompt recourse, or any 12