A/HRC/22/42
asset recovery. For example, the International Centre for Asset Recovery at the Basel
Institute on Governance in Switzerland assists authorities in enhancing their capacities to
seize, confiscate and recover the proceeds of corruption and money-laundering. To this end,
the Centre delivers interactive, country-specific on-site training programmes conceptualized
and devised to enhance the skills and competencies of investigators and prosecutors to
analyse, investigate and prosecute complex corruption, financial crime and moneylaundering cases. The Centre further assists countries by facilitating mutual legal assistance
and providing advice to concerned law enforcement authorities in handling specific asset
recovery cases.53
43.
In Norway, the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre assists donor practitioners in
more effectively addressing corruption challenges through their development support. U4
offers relevant anti-corruption material, including our own applied research, through an
extensive web-based resource centre and runs in-country and online training on anticorruption measures and strategies for partner agencies and their counterparts. 54
D.
The role of international assistance and cooperation
44.
The successful repatriation of illicit funds to countries of origin and the prevention
of further illicit financial outflows require a concerted effort by the international
community. Thus, the United Nations Convention against Corruption and other instruments
on corruption all contain provisions on international cooperation and/or mutual legal
assistance.55
45.
It is notable that international cooperation for development, as well as for the
realization of economic, social and cultural rights, is an obligation of all States. The
principle of international assistance and cooperation is underscored in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (art. 28); the Declaration on the Right to Development (art. 3,
para. 3); the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (arts. 2, para.
1, 22 and 23) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 4).
46.
In the context of addressing the human rights and development challenges posed by
the diversion of resources through illicit financial flows, it is important to note that States
are under a duty to ensure respect for minimum subsistence rights for all. Under article 2,
paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a State
party is obligated to take the necessary steps “to the maximum of its available resources” to
ensure the progressive realization of the rights enshrined in the Covenant. It is accepted that
the phrase “its available resources” refers to both the resources within a State and those
available from the international community through international assistance and
cooperation.56 Moreover, international assistance and cooperation must be directed towards
the establishment of a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set
forth in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights can be fully
realized.
53
54
55
56
16
See www.baselgovernance.org/icar/.
See www.u4.no/.
United Nations Convention against Corruption, chaps. IV and V; AU Convention on Preventing and
Combating Corruption, art. 19; Inter-American Convention against Corruption, art. XIV; OECD
Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions,
arts. 9 and 12
See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 3 (1990) on the
nature of States parties obligations, para. 13.