A/HRC/RES/25/9
Affirming the responsibilities of requesting and requested States in the repatriation of
funds of illicit origin, cognizant that countries of origin must seek repatriation as part of
their duty to ensure the application of the maximum available resources to the full
realization of all human rights for all, including the right to development, address human
rights violations and combat impunity, and that recipient countries, on the other hand, have
a duty to assist and facilitate repatriation, including through judicial assistance, as part of
their obligation of international cooperation and assistance under chapters IV and V of the
United Nations Convention against Corruption and in the field of human rights
Recalling that article 2.1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights notes the need for each State party to take steps, individually and through
international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the
maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full
realization of the rights recognized in the Covenant by all appropriate means, and article 3.3
of the Declaration on the Right to Development, which notes that States have the duty to
cooperate with each other in ensuring development and eliminating obstacles to
development,
Affirming the commitment made at the 2005 World Summit and the 2010 high-level
plenary meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals to make
the fight against corruption a priority at all levels and to curb the illicit transfer of funds,
Concerned at the difficulties, in particular the practical difficulties, that both
requested and requesting States face in the repatriation of funds of illicit origin, taking into
account the particular importance of the recovery of stolen assets for sustainable
development and stability, and noting the difficulties of providing information establishing
a link between the proceeds of corruption in the requested State and the crime committed in
the requesting State, which in many cases may be difficult to prove, bearing in mind that
everyone charged with a criminal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until
proven guilty according to law,
Acknowledging the progress made towards the implementation of the United Nations
Convention against Corruption, while recognizing that States continue to face challenges in
recovering funds of illicit origin owing to, inter alia, differences in legal systems, the
complexity of multijurisdictional investigations and prosecutions, lack of familiarity with
the mutual legal assistance procedures of other States and difficulties in identifying the flow
of funds of illicit origin, and noting the particular challenges in recovering them in cases
involving individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions and
their family members and close associates, and recognizing also that legal difficulties are
often exacerbated by factual and institutional obstacles,
Noting with serious concern that, as highlighted in the interim report by the
Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial
obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic,
social and cultural rights,1 despite the scarcity of available public data, most illicit financial
outflows are from developing countries and that, despite increased efforts by the
international community to curb the flow of illicit funds, recent studies indicate that such
flows grew in real terms by an annual average of 8.6 per cent, exceeding the average rate of
economic growth in developing countries, over the period 2001 to 2010, and it is estimated
that developing countries lost between 783 billion and 1,138 billion United States dollars in
illicit financial outflows in 2010, while, as indicated in the comprehensive study prepared
by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the negative impact of the
1
A/HRC/22/42 and Corr.1.
3