A Practitioners' Guide on Human Rights and Countering Corruption

Completed in December 2021

Corruption has been identified throughout the United Nations (UN) system as one of the main challenges to sustainable development and the realization of human rights.

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) recognized that ‘transparent, responsible, accountable, open and participatory government, responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people, is the foundation on which good governance rests, and that such a foundation is one of the indispensable conditions for the full realization of human rights’. Additionally, as the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) finds, a number of international documents signed under the auspices of both the UN and regional organizations have acknowledged the negative effects of corruption on the protection of human rights and on development.

This research project, conducted in partnership with OHCHR and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights, aimed at clarifying the conceptual relationship between human rights, good governance and anticorruption, demonstrating the negative impact of corruption on human rights, and providing guidance for effectively using the UN human rights system in anti-corruption efforts.

NEWS

Anti-corruption poster News

A New Guide Outlines the Potential of UN Human Rights Mechanisms in Countering Corruption

15 October 2019

Published by the Geneva Academy and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights, this guide explores how a human rights-based approach can be used to complement and strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

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OUTPUT

A Practitioners’ Guide on Human Rights and Countering Corruption

Published by the Geneva Academy and the Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR Centre),  the Practitioners’ Guide on Human Rights and Countering Corruption intends to serve as a user-friendly practitioners’ manual and strategic advocacy tool to explore how a human rights-based approach, with its focus on the victims of corruption and state responsibility, can be used to complement and strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

To this end, it focuses primarily on how UN human rights mechanisms can be better used to report on corruption issues, and it provides guidance as well as practical recommendations on effectively integrating human rights into anti-corruption efforts.

This Guide is the outcome of research, several conferences and consultations carried out in partnership with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and is based on a draft initiated by OHCHR. The Guide also received several inputs from legal and corruption experts, academics, NGO representatives and OHCHR staff. Its production has been possible thanks to the continued support by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Publications

Anti-corruption poster

Practitioners’ Guide on Human Rights and Countering Corruption

October 2019

Geneva Academy and CCPR Centre

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Past Events

Human rights, gender and corruption: linkages, good practices, potential and limitations

18 December 2019, 13:00-14:00

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Launch of the Practitioners' Guide on Human Rights and Countering Corruption

17 September 2019, 12:00-13:00

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Event

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A general view of participants during of the 33nd ordinary session of the Human Rights Council. Training

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This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.

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Promoting and Protecting the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association and Civic Space Worldwide

Started in June 2020

This project aims at providing support to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association Clément Voulé by addressing emerging issues affecting civic space and eveloping tools and materials allowing various stakeholders to promote and defend civic space.

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published on July 2025

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