International Development Law Organization

Transparency and Accountability

Public trust and confidence in justice sector institutions is key to investment and commercial transactions, and necessary for sustainable development and social change. IDLO is engaged in programming that enhances the integrity and capacity of such institutions to promote good governance by holding State and other constituencies, including the private sector, accountable, ultimately leading to people’s confidence in the laws and institutions that are meant to serve them.

Establishing the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine

Despite the positive momentum from Ukraine’s justice sector reforms, there has been a lack of court judgments in top corruption cases, underscoring the need for greater institutional efficiency, transparency and independence in the process of prosecution. As corruption cases often involve complex financial schemes with elements of money-laundering, there is a strong need to delegate them to a specialized court. In response to these needs, the High Anti-Corruption Court was formally established on April 11th, 2019.

Kyrgyz Supreme Court publishes cases of alleged judicial interferences

The Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic is now publicizing incidents of alleged out-of-process interferences in judicial activities online. The initiative represents an important measure in the context of the judiciary’s broader efforts to increase transparency and inform the public, and also works to prevent any undue influence or pressure on judges.

Strategic Investment in Rule of Law Programming

Growing insecurity and instability, recurring and protracted conflict and violence, increasing inequality, exclusion and discrimination, deterioration of international human rights and humanitarian norms, all signal the importance of strengthening the rule of law in today’s rapidly changing world. Notably, Goal 16 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development seeks to promote peace, justice and strong institutions.

Increasing Public Trust in the Judiciary in Kyrgyzstan

The Kyrgyz Republic has made significant strides in working toward improvements to a justice system shaken to the core following the 2010 Revolution. While a wholesale reselection process of judges changed the landscape and provided hope for real change, it also created a judiciary staffed with many inexperienced, under-skilled first-time judges who are more easily exposed to negative influences - both perceived and real. Consequently, the public mistrusts the judiciary and holds a negative perception of it being corrupt, inefficient and dependent on other branches of government.

Pages

Key Initiatives

  • Despite the positive momentum from Ukraine’s justice sector reforms, there has been a lack of court judgments in top corruption cases, underscoring the need for greater institutional efficiency, transparency and independence in the process of prosecution. As corruption cases often involve complex financial schemes with elements of money-laundering, there is a strong need to delegate them to a specialized court. In response to these needs, the High Anti-Corruption Court was formally established on April 11th, 2019.
  • IDLO has been working with the Kyrgyz Judiciary to support the establishment of a functional, credible and transparent legal system, since the adoption of the 2010 Constitution. Despite many positive developments, the rule of law sector has faced a number of problems – chief among them inadequate financing, which risks undermining judicial independence and makes access to justice a challenge, as well as transparency and accountability.
  • Access to judicial decisions, including commercial law decisions, whether for Tajik judges, lawyers, or representatives of international investors, is currently highly limited, due to a lack of a publicly accessible database. This impacts the ability of all parties to refer to past case law in making decisions — whether judicial or commercial.
  • In Burundi, land tenure registration is the primary way for the government to deal with the large number of land disputes across the country. A series of pilot programs aimed at resolving land rights issues have been initiated in recent years. To date, however, it is unclear whether these pilot programs have had their intended effect of reducing the number of land disputes.
Subscribe to RSS - Transparency and Accountability