A/HRC/44/27
68.
Challenges may arise with regard to the offence of illicit enrichment (article 20 of
the United Nations Convention against Corruption), as well as the possibility, in
confiscation proceedings, of requiring that an offender demonstrate the lawful origin of
alleged proceeds of crime or other property liable for confiscation (art. 31 (8)), as well as
non-conviction-based asset forfeiture (art. 54 (1) (c)), which may be in conflict, without
sufficient procedural safeguards, with the principle of nulla poena sine culpa, the
presumption of innocence, the right against self-incrimination and the right to property.
UNODC highlights in this regard the necessity of preserving resources for restoring them to
the rightful owners or to compensate victims, while ensuring, through the adequate
management of assets, that innocent suspects can regain access to their assets in line with
the principle of restitutio ad integrum.
69.
The European Union drew attention to a new directive facilitating the access and
exchange of financial and other information and improving the cooperation between law
enforcement authorities and financial intelligence units and among such units. The directive
was intended to speed up financial investigations on serious and organized crime and to
enable asset recovery offices and other competent authorities to have direct access to the
national centralized bank account registries or data retrieval systems that all States
members of the European Union were required to establish.
VIII. Conclusions and recommendations
70.
The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights is now
widely recognized and corruption is increasingly raised with United Nations human
rights mechanisms as an obstacle to the realization of human rights and as a potential
cause of human rights violations and abuses.
71.
As part of their duty to make the maximum use of available resources so as to
realize all human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, States have an
obligation to combat corruption. This requires taking appropriate steps to prevent,
suppress and provide redress for such abuses.
72.
Human rights mechanisms increasingly include the topic of corruption in the
lists of issues used in their interactive dialogues with the States parties to various
international human rights treaties. They regularly adopt conclusions and
recommendations to States under review on the need to address corruption and
include in them specific measures States should take in that regard.
73.
States request advice from OHCHR on issues relating to corruption, including
on the implementation of recommendations from human rights mechanisms. OHCHR
is building its capacity to support States in their efforts to combat corruption from a
human rights perspective and has identified corruption as a “frontier issue” in its
2018–2021 management plan.16
74.
While national strategies to combat corruption and uphold human rights are
generally developed on separate tracks, there is a growing momentum recognizing the
potential of considering both in a holistic manner.
75.
Anti-corruption efforts and efforts to promote and protect human rights
complement and reinforce each other. They should be pursued in a mutually
reinforcing manner that leverages their comparative strengths and minimizes their
respective limitations. Both should contribute to a broader strategy for the promotion
of good governance. States are called upon to fight corruption and protect human
rights at the same time by upholding core good governance principles, such as
participation, inclusion, transparency, accountability, integrity, probity and the rule
of law.
76.
Independent human rights mechanisms and anti-corruption institutions should
consider analysing the linkages between corruption and human rights in their
respective work.
16
14
OHCHR, “United Nations Human Rights Management Plan 2018–2021” (Geneva, 2018), pp. 44–45.
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