A/HRC/40/59 checks and balances and the strict separation of powers between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of Government. While systemic governance failures are fairly obvious in States with autocratic regimes or weak democratic institutions, they nonetheless also permeate States with strong democratic institutions and formal guarantees of institutional independence, albeit less visibly. 50. For example, throughout the world, judges, prosecutors, parliamentarians and political leaders are often reluctant to impartially investigate or adjudicate accusations of corruption, torture or ill-treatment against lower courts, military and civilian security services or administrative authorities and, instead, tend to display an attitude ranging from complacency to complicity that is irreconcilable with their democratically mandated role. Similarly, in virtually all States, legislative or regulatory projects aiming to subject corporate actors or other influential stakeholders to adequate taxes or to legal liability for adverse human rights and environmental impacts at home and abroad are routinely hindered or significantly watered down by powerful lobbying machineries in ways that are irreconcilable both with the human rights obligations of the State and with legislators’ duty to serve the public interest. 51. Analogous failures of good governance, impartiality and oversight can also be observed at the level of international organizations and other entities created by States, including those tasked with the protection of human rights and the investigation or adjudication of violations. In short, lack of transparency, trading in influence, arbitrariness and denial of justice are common practices across national and international governance systems, albeit at varying levels of sophistication and subtlety, ranging from open violence and abuse to corrupt practices almost completely removed from public awareness. As a direct consequence of this sobering reality, in all regions of the world the vast majority of abuse involving corruption and torture or ill-treatment is not, or not adequately, investigated, adjudicated and remedied, thus resulting in a worldwide prevalence of structural impunity for such abuse. 52. Overall, the most fundamentally destructive effect of these systemic governance failures is the creeping establishment of systems, environments and situational “niches” where power can be abused with impunity, thus providing a fertile environment for the spread of corruption and, through the relevant patterns of interaction, also for the unchecked practice of torture and ill-treatment. Therefore, while measures targeting corruption and torture or ill-treatment at the level of individual officials, institutions and processes remain indispensable, the only realistic prospect for eradicating either phenomenon is to effectively address the underlying systemic governance failures conducive to both forms of abuse. 2. Normative and institutional shortcomings 53. Beyond the need for checks and balances, the fight against corruption, torture and ill-treatment requires an effective international and national normative and institutional framework and its rigorous implementation, including by means of fostering best practice, such as forensic investigations and non-coercive interviewing. As the mandate has highlighted repeatedly, and most recently in the latest thematic report to the General Assembly, some States have yet to ratify key international legal instruments against torture and ill-treatment, and all too many States fall short in establishing and ensuring the effective national operation of key safeguards and mechanisms oriented and tailored towards preventing torture and ill-treatment (A/73/207, paras. 19–21 and 26–27). Similarly, some States have yet to ratify key international legal instruments against corruption and many fall short in establishing and ensuring the effective national operation of key safeguards and mechanisms aimed at preventing and redressing corruption. 15 The absence 15 14 It is worth noting that, as of 7 November 2018, the United Nations Convention against Corruption had reached near-universal ratification, with 186 ratifications. On lessons learned regarding the implementation of the Convention, see CAC/COSP/2017/5. On national implementation strategies, see UNODC, National Anti-Corruption Strategies: A Practical Guide for Development and Implementation (Vienna, 2015).