Many in the international community have long recognized the importance of asset recovery in corruption-related offenses, yet too often repatriation structures have failed to effectively return funds to victims most harmed by those offenses.
Last month, the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Litigation Project (SLP) sought to address some of these gaps, providing recommendations to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the return of ill-gotten funds and the use of those funds for the sustainable development, and the realization of economic, social, and cultural rights. Incorporating lessons learned from past repatriations of illicit funds, consultations with civil society and victim and survivor associations, and existing legal tools, the SLP outlined the close connection between corruption and human rights abuses and recommended steps that foreign governments and international mechanisms can take to ensure that corrupt funds are repatriated in a manner that advances justice for victims and survivors of related harms.
This submission is part of the SLP’s broader work on facilitating a victim- and survivor-centric approach to the repatriation of illicit funds that is essential to advancing justice. As such, a key part of the SLP’s work involves ensuring that fines, forfeitures, and other monetary proceeds stemming from the commission of serious violations of international law be directed toward victims and survivors of the underlying harms.
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