Today’s guest post is by Carlos G. Guerrero Orozco, a Mexican litigation lawyer and partner at López Melih y Estrada Abogados. He chairs the non-profit Derechos Humanos y Litigio Estratégico Mexicano and heads the International Database Taskforce at the Working Group on Victims of Corruption of the UNCAC Coalition.

Corruption is what social scientists call a “wicked problem,” one extraordinarily difficult to solve because of its complex and interconnected nature. Governments thus need all the help they can muster to tackle it. But too many sideline a critical ally, those harmed by corruption.

Corruption’s victims are many and their injuries diverse. Journalists threatened, and too frequently murdered, for revealing corrupt schemes. Whistleblowers attacked for denouncing corruption. Citizens injured or killed when corruptly constructed buildings collapse; those denied access to education, health care, and fair courts thanks to bribery, embezzlement, and other corruption crimes.

All are victims and all have real claims for damages and strong incentives for joining with governments to fight corruption.

These corruption victims – whistleblowers, civil society organizations, journalists, activists, citizen collectives – have tried, raising their voices and organizing to represent personal or social interests, driven by claims for compensation and social when governments have failed to prevent, investigate, and sanction acts of corruption. Victims of corruption can play a significant role in the building block of development and national cohesion; they can promote active social participation in public decision-making, complementing government action and filling those spaces untouched by governments.

International organizations, such as Transparency International, have provided evidence regarding the barriers imposed to victims of corruption. UNCAC Coalition’s Working Group on Victims of Corruption has promoted the role of those who were directly or indirectly harmed by corruption. The Working Group has put together a compilation of cases on this issue. The “International Database on Corruption Damage Reparation and Legal Standing for Victims of Corruption” (available here) presents information of about 22 countries so far regarding the recognition of victims in corruption proceedings.

The position and importance of victims of corruption are clear enough. The threat to corrupt governments is also clear. Victims provide a counterweight where there is no institutional or political will. This is likely a, if not the main, reason politicians frequently resist giving victims of corruption the right to participate in the prosecution of corruption proceedings and challenge government decisions or omissions.

Indeed, governments commonly resist efforts by victims of corruption – often represented by civil society organizations– to seek recovery for the harm they have suffered or to vindicate the collective interests of society to live in an environment free of corruption. The doctrine of “legal standing” – a technical, legal concept– allows victims to appear before public authorities and courts to defend personal or collective rights harmed by acts of corruption. Although most countries’ legal frameworks in theory provide for legal standing, judicial precedents and public policies often make the prerequisites to standing impossible to realize in practice.

There are for example states where only the public prosecutor can initiate an investigation against acts of corruption. In several, victims of corruption are not even recognized as such, denying them any opportunity to participate in cases that are clearly public interest matters. For example, the UNCAC Coalition’s database shows that the United Arab Emirates and Australia do not recognize legal standing for civil society organizations. The database also shows that, although in Mexico legal standing for organizations is recognized, the judiciary and anti-corruption bodies impose in most cases insurmountable obstacles to organizations’ participation in cases.

The Working Group’s database is meant to help change this. It documents the challenges governments face in the fight against corruption. Each state profile provides an overview of the situation and specific and technical reports showing the conclusions. to activists, organizations, researchers, international organizations, and governments, to better understand the situation of the victims of corruption in different regions.

The importance of the database like the UNCAC Coalition’s is to highlight State compliance with international treaties. The United Nations Convention Against Corruption has set a particularly important standard. According to its article 13, “(…) each State Party shall take appropriate measures, within its means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to encourage the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness of the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption.” 

A more restrictive and bureaucratic system towards victims of corruption has an impact on the population and on democratic development and improvement, especially when those restrictions and limitations are embraced by the courts and other authorities with authority to handle public interest cases. During the COVID-19 health emergency, victims of corruption worked tirelessly to fight any kind of corruption and exposed hidden and illegal practices. Even during that time, with severe limitations in place, victims and organizations were needed and acted accordingly.

To recover from the restrictions that governments have imposed on victims of corruption, legislators and public agencies should open a path to the recognition of their legal standing to file new cases where corruption and the violation of human rights are alleged. They should give life to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption requirement that parties open their courts to “entities or parties who have suffered damage as a result of corruption.”

Keeping on building the ability of civil society to track and criticize government actions will improve the decision-making process within the states. Citizens, directly or through civil society organizations, should be able to demand an efficient, transparent, and non-corrupt government.

The role of civil society is crucial to fight this problem that involves every country, even those who are not part of the UNCAC, with the correct preventive measures. Citizen participation is key to advancing preventive measures, such as access to effective information, transparency and contributing to public decision-making. Victims of corruption become allies to the States by proposing activities that contribute to avoid and inhibit corruption and impunity, capacity-building programs involving schools and universities, and by surveilling and proposing ways for public officials to respect, promote, protect, and guarantee human rights that are harmed by corruption.

Every individual has the right to live in an environment free of corruption and this right extends beyond the sole responsibility of governments, considering the unfortunate involvement of some in illicit practices and neglect. In light of this reality, it becomes imperative for all individuals to actively raise their voices and join forces in combating the underlying causes of corruption. Let us come together in a collective effort to address the root of this problem, recognizing that the fight against corruption is a shared commitment that transcends governmental boundaries.