Consultation on cases regarding corruption
Published on 08 Jul 2019, 02:10 PM
The CCPR-Centre organized a consultation to identify cases on corruption that could be submitted to the Treaty Bodies
Lawyers from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan took part in the consultation.
On 25 and 26 June 2019, CCPR-Centre invited 12 lawyers and Human Rights Defenders from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, for a consultation on individual complaints to the UN Treaty Bodies (UNTBs).
"This consultation was useful for our future work. We need more knowledge on human rights mechanisms, and this workshop helped to develop this. "
- One of the participants in his/her evaluation of the consultation
The purpose of the consultation was to identify possible cases to submit to the Treaty Bodies, in which there is a clear link between corruption and human rights.
Patrick Mutzenberg, director of the CCPR-Centre, and Ivo Petrov of the petition team at OHCHR, introduced them to the system and provided some statistics about the jurisprudence of the Treaty Bodies.
Ilze Brands-Kehris, member of the Human Rights Committee, discussed the jurisprudence of that Committee regarding corruption cases in the past in more detail. She stressed that there is a lack of cases in which the Committee could make a clear link between corruption and human rights, and it would welcome more submissions on this subject.
Làzarie Eeckeloo, Human Rights Officer at the CCPR-Centre, then presented a research paper (LINK) conducted in 2018, analyzing the approach of all the TBs regarding corruption in their Concluding Observations between 2007 and 2017.
Finally, the consultation ended with a presentation by Carlos Urquilla about the inter-American system and its approach to corruption. This enabled the participants to compare the TB system to a regional system. Several recent cases of the inter-American Court/Commission were presented.
Brainstorming on potential cases to be submitted to the UN Treaty Bodies
After receiving this necessary background information, the participants discussed potential cases. Their examples included cases regarding forced eviction and right to property, the right to fair trial, a lack of independence of the judiciary and the right to family life and non-interference with the home.
It is expected that this capacity building will lead to submissions of cases that will be submitted to the Treaty Bodies. This will foster the jurisprudence of the Treaty Bodies on corruption and its negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights.
