Topic Guide: Judicial Corruption

The international community has played an important role in developing norms and standards on the structures of court systems and the behaviour of judges and other judicial actors, such as Article 11 of the 2005 UN Convention against Corruption and the 2002 Bangalore Principles on Judicial Conduct. The international community can also be instrumental in ensuring that mutual legal assistance functions between countries so that national judges cooperate in tackling cross-border criminality.

Multilateral and bilateral donors typically support anti-corruption efforts from “within” judicial institutions, working with judges and other judicial actors to strengthen the transparency, accountability and integrity of judicial systems. The approach has had mixed results in engaging judges and judicial actors in resisting corruption. Donors can also encourage judicial reform from “below” by supporting civil society, citizens, the media and court users to demand judicial integrity, accountability and transparency, through implementing some of the tools described above.