Executive summary
Corruption is hampering the delivery of justice globally. People perceive the judiciary as the second most corrupt sector, just after the police. In the last decade governments and development partners’ efforts to reform judiciaries have been undermined by corruption, and few have taken concrete steps to address it.
Although there are several international standards on judicial integrity and independence, implementation is the challenge. But it doesn’t have to be this way, UNDP experience in the field shows that change is possible in judicial systems.
This report finds that opening up judicial systems fosters integrity and increases public trust without impeding independence of the judiciary. The report advocates for judiciaries to open up to peer learning by engaging representatives from judiciaries of other countries in capacity assessments to improve judicial integrity. It also encourages judiciaries to consult end-users, associations of judges and use new technologies to foster transparency and accountability.
There are few wide-ranging success stories but lessons can be learned from piecemeal solutions that have worked in individual countries. The report highlights stories from countries in various contexts - Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo, Nepal,
Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, and Somalia. It draws on international expert discussions held during the 16th session of Transparency International’s IACC.
The report discusses internal oversight within the judiciary such as judicial councils, and the related challenge of finding an appropriate model that balances judicial independence and accountability. It also looks at how stakeholders such as associations of judges and court users can become allies in reforming judicial systems. For example, the report cites the use of surveys and consultations with court users that have led to more responsive services and reduced demands for bribes. Another potential transformative tool is the use of new technologies and court automation. For example, digitising court documents and statistics has helped increase transparency for people who can access judgements on-line, reduce bureaucracy, and achieve efficiency. Even in post-conflict environments where change is difficult, NGOs working with citizens to monitor trials in selected provinces have contributed to improving the administration of justice.
The recently approved 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides renewed impetus to deliver justice for all. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 includes key targets for providing access to justice, and tackling corruption. The aim of the report is to help transform judicial systems across the world by illustrating inspirational experiences for delivering justice for all.
This report has six parts. Section 1 discusses the importance of promoting a transparent and accountable judiciary to deliver justice for all as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. With the monitoring of SDG 16, it will become increasingly important to collect evidence on judicial systems to measure progress over time.
In Section 2, the report reviews the main international surveys and indexes on corruption perception, as well as diagnostic tools available for assessing judicial integrity.
The Nigerian experience distils lessons from a multi-year judicial reform programme, where the broader community was instrumental in developing a baseline for reform and monitoring progress over time.
Section 3 focuses on internal judicial oversight mechanisms for strengthening integrity and accountability, while reflecting on their appropriateness in different contexts, including in post-conflict countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, as well as in Nepal and Somalia.
Section 4 argues that, although technology is not a panacea, automation of court services and proceedings can expedite procedures, avoid human interaction to minimize corruption risks, and give citizens access to court information and statistics. Indonesia and the Philippines provide case studies on how technical solutions can open up judicial verdicts to public scrutiny. Reference is also made to UNDP’s “Strengthening Management Capacities for Governance” approach in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Section 5 presents innovative approaches from Afghanistan and Kenya for involving the community and civil society in trial monitoring and as part of court user committees to increase judicial integrity and accountability.
In Section 6, the report concludes with a call to judiciaries around the world to open up their institutions to peer learning by involving representatives from judiciaries of other countries in assessments of judicial integrity. It highlights some principles to guide these assessments in a way that promotes ownership and effectiveness:
Making the assessment part of a capacity development exercise, not a mere ad-hoc evaluation;
Executive Summary Ensuring that the capacity assessments are owned and driven by the judiciary itself while the role of external experts is limited to facilitating the self-assessment;Involving judges and legal practitioners from other countries who have faced similar challenges to foster peer-to-peer exchange;
Having a participatory and inclusive capacity assessment that consults all levels of the organisation being assessed as well as other key actors such as associations of judges or court users;
Undertaking a capacity assessment that directly feeds into a reform process with the development of an integrity action plan by the organisation itself;
Grounding the integrity action plan developed as a result of the capacity assessments in normative and policy frameworks.
Finally, the report encourages development partners and researchers to work together in mapping out corruption risks in the overall justice system to develop more integrated programming on anti-corruption and rule of law.