OHCHR WORKSHOP ON THE IMPACT OF UNILATERAL COERCIVE MEASURES ON
THE ENJOYMENT OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 23 MAY 2014, GENEVA
Susanne Kuehn
Head of Public Sector Integrity Programme
skuehn@transparency.org
BACKGROUND: CORRUPTION & IMPUNITY
‘THE CORRUPT
ARE GETTING
AWAY WITH IT’
• Ending impunity will be instrumental in fighting
corruption
• In too many countries, the agencies of law
enforcement, from the judiciary to public
enforcement to the the police, act with impunity
• Justice systems in many countries allow
leaders to act as if they were above the law –
to act with impunity
• They support the crimes of corrupt public
officials in return for favors' and privileges, they
take bribes from powerful business people;
and extort bribes from citizens
• Often corruption such as bribery or family
influence is used to bend the rules to avoid
prosecution and or punishment for illegal acts
EXPLORING TARGETED MEASURES IN
FIGHTING CORRUPTION
THE CHALLENGE
OF ENDING
IMPUNITY
RELATED TO
CORRUPTION
• Corrupt individuals often exploit borders to
hide from prosecution and launder bribes and
embezzled funds in foreign jurisdictions
• Legal loopholes: diplomatic passports, foreign
high-level ties, oversea bank accounts
• Broad economic sanctions can have a
negative impact on the population
• But: target measures/ ‘smart sanctions’ that
target corrupt individuals (esp. Politically
Exposed Persons) can help close international
loopholes
• Help preventing the corrupt from enjoying the
proceeds from corruption & prevent money
laundering
• Strong signal to ending impunity related to
corruption
EXPERIENCE WITH TARGETED MEASURES
DENIAL OF
ENTRY
• ‘Denial of entry’ is a fairly new instrument in the
fight of cross-border corruption
• G20- inclusion of the G20-Anti-corruption
Action Plan (2010) urges member states to
Adopt ad hoc ‘denial of entry’ policies, legal
frameworks and enforcement measures
Determine the definition of corrupt drawing on
domestic legislation and in line with international
anti-corruption commitments
Deny entry even absent a prior conviction where
there is sufficient other information to make
determination
Consider extending denial of entry to family
members and close associates
Cooperate with each other by sharing points of
contact
DENIAL OF ENTRY- RISKS AND PITFALLS
• Overall promising approach in terms of fighting corruption, but so far
• Lack of publicly available information – difficult to assess effectiveness
and impact of the measure
• Level of compliance among G20 members is low
• Legal basis of enforcement between members states varies widely
• Politically sensitive nature of visa and denial of entry decision – need for
clear, publicly accessible criteria and and procedural guarantees to
prevent politically-motivated abuse and negligence
• Criteria to allow for application for individuals in the absence of
conviction- attempts to address problem that corrupt officials often
manage to elude from justice in their home country, but: new element of
arbitrariness
• Need to scrutinize “investor programmes”, which allow for fast track for
visa for investors – ensure appropriate integrity checks
TARGETED MEASURES: FREEZE OF FUNDS
• EU states agreed to freeze assets of corrupt officials in the Ukraine
(2014) related to the embezzlement of state funds by corrupt elites and
of human rights violations
• Freezing of economic sources means to preventing the use of economic
sources to obtain funds, goods or services in any way, to prevent any
move, transfer, alteration, use of, access
• Too early to assess impact but promising initiative in the fight of
corruption, in particular of Politically Exposed People (PEP)
• Need to be accompanied with improved transparency in banking and
sharing of information between governments, in particular with regard to
PEP
• Procedural guarantees needed not prevent abuse
CONCLUSION
• Targeted measures can be a powerful tool to close legal loopholes and
help ending impunity related to corruption & target corrupt individuals
rather than entire populations
• Too early to draw final conclusions from implementation so far, in
particular given lack of publicly available information
• Risk: discretionary power of every sovereign state may lead to
politically-motivated abuses
Recommendations:
• Need for shared common standards for targeted measures
• Need to move from ad hoc measures towards objective criteria
• Respect proportionality (grand corruption, PEP, not petty corruption)
• Need for procedural guarantees (incl. appeals process)
• Highest degree of transparency needed to ensure a fair and effective
implementation of these measures & external monitoring by civil society
and the media
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