Summary
States must take measures to prevent corruption.
Obligations
Election Parts
Issues
Criteria
- The recruitment and appointment of electoral management body staff were transparent, efficient, and equitable and instilled public confidence in the body
- The electoral management body, as an organ of the state, implemented effective policies to discourage acts of corruption
- The electoral management body ensured transparency in its decision making; for example, through open meetings and the use of public and competitive tenders
- The electoral management body maintained and implemented policies to prevent, address, and penalize acts of corruption, including during the voting process
Quotes
- Each State Party shall consider adopting such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to establish as criminal offences, when committed intentionally: (a) The promise, offering or giving to a public official or any other person, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage in order that the public official or the person abuse his or her real or supposed influence with a view to obtaining from an administration or public authority of the State Party an undue advantage for the original instigator of the act or for any other person; (b) The solicitation or acceptance by a public official or any other person, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage for himself or herself or for another person in order that the public official or the person abuse his or her real or supposed influence with a view to obtaining from an administration or public authority of the State Party an undue advantage.
- In order to combat corruption and related offences in the public service, State Parties commit themselves to: 1. Require all or designated public officials to declare their assets at the time of assumption of office during and after their term of office.
- Improving efficiency and effectiveness of public services and combatting corruption.
- The purposes of this Convention are: 2. To promote, facilitate and regulate cooperation among the States Parties to ensure the effectiveness of measures and actions to prevent, detect, punish and eradicate corruption in the performance of public functions and acts of corruption specifically related to such performance.
- The candidates do not have the right to take advantages of their official position or advantages of office with the aim of being elected. The list of breaches of the principle of equal suffrage, and measures of responsibility for such breaches are determined by laws.
- In order to realise the objectives set out in Article 2 above, each State Party shall take measures to establish and consolidate: d) Laws and regulations aimed at discouraging corruption of national and foreign officials.
- The Court notes that a finding that a candidate has engaged in unfair or illegal campaigning methods could entail serious consequences for the candidate concerned, in that he or she could be disqualified from running for the election. As the Convention guarantees the effective exercise of individual electoral rights, the Court considers that, in order to prevent arbitrary disqualification of candidates, the relevant domestic procedures should contain sufficient safeguards protecting the candidates from abusive and unsubstantiated allegations of electoral misconduct, and that decisions on disqualification should be based on sound, relevant and sufficient proof of such misconduct (see Orujov, cited above, ยง 46).
- We recognize that corruption poses a great threat to the OSCE's shared values. It generates instability and reaches into many aspects of the security, economic and human dimensions. Participating States pledge to strengthen their efforts to combat corruption and the conditions that foster it, and to promote a positive framework for good government practices and public integrity.
- Requests States parties to cooperate closely with each other, consistent with their domestic legal and administrative systems, in order to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement action to combat the offences covered by the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
- Also calls upon States parties, consistent with the fundamental principles of their educational and legal systems, to promote, at various levels of the education system, educational programmes that instil concepts and principles of integrity.
- Requests States parties to promote training and education at all levels of the public and private sectors in the prevention of corruption and, depending on their national legislation, to make such training and education an integral part of national anti-corruption strategies and plans.
- To ensure that the organisation, functioning and decision-making processes of public administration take into account the need to combat corruption, in particular by ensuring as much transparency as is consistent with the need to achieve effectiveness.
- Calls upon States parties that have not done so to ensure the existence of anti-corruption bodies in accordance with article 6 of the Convention, strengthen the capacity and independence of those bodies in dealing with the prevention of corruption and take steps, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to safeguard those bodies from undue influence.
- [Consider] signing and ratifying or acceding to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other core international human rights treaties.
- Calls upon States parties to devote special attention to the creation of opportunities to involve young people as key actors to successfully prevent corruption at the domestic, subregional, regional and international levels, and requests the Secretariat to assist States parties in doing so, upon request and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources.
- Strongly encourages States parties to integrate anti-corruption policies to promote integrity and prevent corruption in broader crime prevention and criminal justice reform strategies, as well as in public sector reform plans.
- Also calls upon States parties to use the Convention as a framework for the development of specific and tailored anti-corruption safeguards in sectors that may present a greater vulnerability to corruption, and requests the Secretariat to assist States parties in doing so, upon request and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources.
- Requests States parties to promote training and education at all levels of the public sector and, where appropriate, of the private sector in the prevention of corruption and to make such training and education an integral part of national anti-corruption strategies and plans.
- Reaffirms that, while the implementation of the Convention is the responsibility of States parties, the promotion of a culture of integrity, transparency and accountability and the prevention of corruption are responsibilities to be shared by all stakeholders and sectors of society, in accordance with articles 7 to 13 of the Convention.
- Calls upon States parties to devote special attention to strengthening integrity across the entire criminal justice system, including the police, prosecution, defence counsel, judiciary, court administration, prison and probation services, and notes with appreciation the assistance provided by the Secretariat to States parties upon request in the integration of anti-corruption measures in institutions of the criminal justice system.
- Recognizes the importance of ensuring that anti-corruption bodies have the necessary independence to enable them to carry out their functions effectively and free from any undue influence.
- Urges States parties to ensure that their anti-corruption authorities or other relevant bodies have sufficient resources to fulfil their mission, have an appropriate level of investigative and prosecutorial independence, are trained sufficiently and on a regular basis, have the requisite authority, legislative and otherwise, to identify, trace, freeze and confiscate corruption proceeds, including in terms of access to the financial and other information necessary to do so, and have the authority to share information, cooperate and coordinate corruption investigations with other domestic agencies and other Governments, when appropriate.
- It is commonly accepted that an effective election campaign needs sufficient resources. Parties and candidates would not be able to convey their programmes to the electorate without financial resources. Therefore political funding is considered a necessary condition for elections in modern democracies. Nevertheless, it should be clear that money may lead to corruption and to unfair political competition in the electoral process. Thus, it is important that election (and party) legislation contains clear and comprehensive regulations on party and campaign finances.
- Payment from private sources for the collection of signatures for popular initiatives and requests for referendums should, as a rule, be prohibited. If permitted, it must be regulated, with regard to both the total amount allocated and the amount paid to each person.
- Voting procedures must be readily understandable by citizens; ii. voters should always have the possibility of voting in a polling station. Other means of voting are acceptable under the following conditions: iii. postal voting should be allowed only where the postal service is safe and reliable; the right to vote using postal votes may be confined to people who are in hospital or imprisoned or to persons with reduced mobility or to electors residing abroad; fraud and intimidation must not be possible.