A/HRC/40/59
(d)
Inadequately resourced public services and institutions;
(e)
Socioeconomic marginalization and discrimination;
(f)
Excessive incarceration and involuntary institutionalization.
67.
Wherever there is a causal connection between systemic governance failures and
corruption, torture or ill-treatment, regardless of the intentionality or purposefulness of that
connection, an international legal obligation to take systemic remedial measures can be
derived directly from the duty of States to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial
and other measures to prevent acts of torture and ill-treatment,20 as well as from their duty
to develop and implement or maintain effective, coordinated anti-corruption policies and
practices.21
V. Recommendations
68.
On the basis of his observations and conclusions, the Special Rapporteur
endorses and reinforces the recommendations of the Human Rights Council
(resolution 35/25) and its Advisory Committee (A/HRC/28/73, paras. 47–55) in respect
of the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights and, in
response to Council resolution 37/19, offers the following recommendations to States
with a view to strengthening their capacity to ensure the effective prevention of and
accountability for torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment in settings affected by corruption.
Ratification and implementation of international instruments
69.
States should adopt and/or ratify, without reservations, the United Nations
Convention Against Corruption, the Convention against Torture and its Optional
Protocol and all other universal and regional treaties and soft law instruments
relevant to the prevention of corruption and torture and ill-treatment respectively,
and should ensure their comprehensive and effective implementation across national
legal and institutional frameworks.
Zero-tolerance policies on corruption and on torture or ill-treatment
70.
States should adopt and implement strict policies of zero tolerance for both
corruption and torture or ill-treatment throughout all branches and levels of public
authority, not only through strict enforcement at the level of individual officials,
services and processes, but also through decisive corrective action that may be
required at the systemic level. In doing so, States should duly consider the
predominant patterns of causal interaction between corruption and torture or illtreatment. In determining criminal culpability for involvement in corruption, they
should duly consider mitigating circumstances of coercion, including through risks,
threats or acts of torture and ill-treatment. Furthermore, States should complement
repressive and corrective action with proactive efforts to ensure adequate funding,
training and equipping of public services and institutions, and fostering a general
culture of personal and professional integrity throughout all public services.
Integration and mutual mainstreaming
71.
States should proactively integrate their anti-torture and anti-corruption
policies and practices, including through mutual mainstreaming. Thus, the prevention
of torture and ill-treatment should be systematically incorporated into anti-corruption
policies and practices and the prevention of corruption should be systematically
incorporated into anti-torture policies and practices. At the most basic level, this also
means that any anti-corruption measure must fully comply with the absolute and non-
20
21
18
Convention against Torture, Part I.
United Nations Convention against Corruption, chap. II.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents