A/HRC/44/27 inspiration from legislative, institutional and policy reforms in other member States. Guatemala reported on its bilateral cooperation with Honduras and mentioned that it had invited the Honduras Revenue Administration Service to share information with the objective of learning from its administrative and technical practices. 63. Sweden underscored the importance of multilateral efforts and the strong political commitments to support anti-corruption initiatives they produced. In that regard, Sweden highlighted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially Sustainable Development Goal 16, on stronger institutions, and Goal 10, on reducing inequality among countries. It also mentioned the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the Group of 20 Anti-Corruption Working Group, the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the Council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption. Sweden highlighted the role of the private sector in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Moreover, it supported partner countries to combat corruption by strengthening institutions such as tax and audit authorities. Sweden also supported the efforts of the Financial Action Task Force’s Training and Research Institute to assist civil servants in developing countries in devising anti-money-laundering systems. The Open Government Partnership and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, among others, were also mentioned. 64. The Centre of Analysis and Research in Human Rights and the International Network of Human Rights recommended international cooperation to combat corruption, including by prioritizing the protection of human rights. They also recommended making use of human rights mechanisms and procedures such as the universal periodic review, promoting technical assistance and reporting on the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights. 65. In Colombia, OHCHR collaborated with an international gold-mining firm to identify and address human rights challenges at the local level. Through a multi-year partnership, OHCHR and the firm had developed a comprehensive diagnostic of the human rights situation in the municipality of El Bagre, leading to increased awareness of the urgent need to improve access to education and health services. By working together to establish mechanisms for community participation in municipal-level policymaking, OHCHR and the firm had shed light on the negative impacts of corruption on human rights, reinforced transparency and accountability in public decision-making and strengthened the role of civil society in the allocation of public resources. VII. Asset recovery 66. Access to an effective remedy is a fundamental principle under both human rights law (see, e.g., article 2 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, principle 25 of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law) and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (see, e.g., arts. 32, 34–35, 53 (b) and 57 (3) (c)). 67. As mentioned in section II above on general observations, apart from the case of extortion, it can be difficult to identify the direct victims of corruption. UNODC has highlighted that the identification of victims and of parameters for their compensation varies significantly between States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, as do the perceptions of States parties with regard to the link between human rights violations and cases of corruption. In a recent note on best practices for the identification and compensation of all different types of victims in accordance with the Convention, and third-party challenges and their impact on asset recovery under chapter V, it was emphasized that the possibility of seeking compensation should be available to States as well as legal and natural persons (CAC/COSP/WG.2/2019/5, para. 3). It was also pointed out that corruption may victimize people directly, but may also negatively affect society as a whole and, in this context, that the concept of social damage existed in some jurisdictions and allowed compensation for damages to the public interest (ibid., para. 9). 13

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