The Negative Impact of Corruption on the Enjoyment of Human Rights

A/HRC/RES/53/17View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2023.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 2013–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/59/6

2025A/HRC/RES/59/6The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rightsLatestCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/53/17The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rightsCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/47/7The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rightsCompare with previous version
2019A/HRC/RES/41/9The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rightsCompare with previous version
2017A/HRC/RES/35/25The negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rightsCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Corruption Covid-19 Crime Prevention Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Human Rights Recovery

What does this mandate say?

16 operative paragraphs

Urges States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption to consider doing so, calls upon States parties to the Convention to effectively implement it and to participate in the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and encourages States parties to publish their country reports prepared under the Mechanism;

Recognizes the negative impact of widespread corruption on the enjoyment of human rights, including by reducing the resources available for all sectors, thereby hampering the realization of all human rights;

Welcomes the commitments made by all States in Sustainable Development Goal 16 and its target 16.5, on substantially reducing corruption and bribery in all their forms;

Also welcomes the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”, adopted by the General Assembly on 2 June 2021 at its special session against corruption;

Underlines the necessity to step up cooperation and coordination among different stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society at the national, regional and international levels, to fight corruption in all its forms as a means of contributing positively to the promotion and protection of human rights;

Stresses that preventive measures are one of the most effective means of countering corruption and of avoiding its negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights, calls for the strengthening of preventive measures at all levels, and underlines that one key aspect of preventive measures is to address the needs of those in vulnerable situations who may be the first victims of corruption;

Urges States to create and maintain, in law and in practice, while addressing the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights, a safe and enabling environment in which civil society, media workers, media outlets and journalists can operate free from hindrance and insecurity;

Recognizes that the negative impact of corruption on human rights and sustainable development can be addressed through anti-corruption education, notes with appreciation the capacity-building activities and specialized curricula developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and relevant institutions, such as the International Anti-Corruption Academy, and encourages the latter, as well as other international and regional anti-corruption organizations, to strengthen their cooperation with the Office and other relevant United Nations entities to enhance the effectiveness of anti-corruption education, facilitate anti-corruption research, implement teaching and learning programmes and increase public awareness of the causes and risks associated with corruption;

Encourages national anti-corruption authorities and national human rights institutions, where they exist, to cooperate through the exchange of information, where appropriate, and the development of joint strategies and plans of action to fight corruption and its negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights;

Invites the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as the secretariat of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention, to continue to exchange views, explore opportunities for closer cooperation and keep each other abreast of ongoing activities to deepen the understanding of the nexus between corruption and human rights, as appropriate and within their respective mandates, under the aegis of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime;

Encourages the mechanisms of the Human Rights Council to consider, within their existing mandates, the issue of the negative impact of corruption on the enjoyment of human rights;

Stresses the importance of policy coherence among the intergovernmental processes in Geneva, Vienna and New York on the issue of corruption and its impact on the enjoyment of human rights, and recalls that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime remains the leading body with respect to the coordination of Convention against Corruption issues within the United Nations system;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to organize an intersessional half-day expert seminar, in a hybrid format and fully accessible to persons with disabilities, before the fifty-seventh session of the Human Rights Council, to share good practices, achievements, challenges and lessons learned in the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights in anti-corruption efforts in the context of recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic;

Requests that the above-mentioned expert seminar be organized in coordination with relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and that the Office of the High Commissioner liaise with relevant United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms, international financial institutions, national human rights and anti-corruption institutions and civil society organizations to that end;

Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a summary report on the above-mentioned expert seminar and to present it to the Human Rights Council at its fifty-eighth session and to share it with the secretariat of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime;

Decides to remain seized of this issue.

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