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African Union Convention on Preventing and Combatting Corruption
This convention has 5 objectives, including to promote and strengthen the development in Africa of mechanisms that can prevent, detect and punish corruption in the public and private sectors.
July 10, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
Indicators for a State of the Judiciary Report: A Standardized Tool for Monitoring and Reporting on the Implementation of Key Judicial Reforms
The IFES Judicial Integrity Principles [JIP]1 represent high priority consensus principles and emerging best practices found in virtually all global and regional governmental and non-governmental instruments related to judicial integrity. The JIP are aimed at fostering an enabling environment and legal culture necessary for the rule of law to take root, with specific emphasis on a definition of judicial integrity that encompasses a broad range of justice issues, including: judicial independence, judicial accountability, judicial transparency, judicial ethics, judicial corruption and the fair and effective enforcement of judgments. The JIP also represents the framework for preparing an Annual State of the Judiciary Report. The following indicators were developed as a complementary checklist to assist in the assessment of compliance with the JIP.
June 30, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
Regional Best Practices: A Model Framework for a State of the Judiciary Report for the Americas, Prepared for the Third Conference on Justice and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ecuador, July 2003
Creating an independent accountable judiciary and public trust are now seen as core elements of the rule of law. After over a decade of legal and judicial reform, questions to be asked include (i) what lessons have been learned, (ii) what the best practices are and (iii) what kinds of reform programs should be emphasized in the next reform phase. Now that there is consensus that an independent accountable judiciary is a key to sustainable economic, political and legal reform, how do judiciaries and reformers obtain more resources and political support to broaden and deepen the reform package for the next generation of reforms? This paper advances an information strategy that is designed to simultaneously promote key elements of an effective justice system: fairness and impartiality, soundness of decisions, accessibility, efficiency, independence and credibility. It is based on the historical truism that information is power and that it, coupled with a rule of law culture, has been the key liberating, stabilizing and driving reform force in developing sustainable democracy. Perhaps more importantly, it is the best strategy to simultaneously attack issues related to judicial transparency and accountability, including structural and political issues related to judicial independence, judicial corruption and the enforcement of judgments. Accordingly, primary emphasis is placed on the structural issues and processes that enhance both transparency and accountability, as well as participatory, information-oriented, mutually-supportive programs and strategies designed to promote public trust in the judiciary. This “public trust” approach has been an underemphasized element of virtually all judicial reform programs and it is the essential element to developing a rule of law culture and voluntary compliance with the law. In short, fundamental reforms of a political nature, such as those related to the independence and accountability of the judiciary, need to be broadly supported, linked and co-led by key stakeholders in the process, including all branches of government, the legal and judicial profession and the public at large.
June 30, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
Model Framework for a State of the Judiciary Report for the Americas: Lessons Learned and Monitoring and Reporting Strategies to Promote the Implementation of the Next Generation of Reforms
The paper advocates for more judicial transparency, public accountability, political will and targeted resources, and recommends a participatory monitoring and reporting framework for the Americas that is designed to simultaneously (1) promote best practices and the implementation of high priority institutional reforms and (2) develop public support for a fair and impartial judicial system.
June 30, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
A Model State of the Judiciary Report: A Strategic Tool for Promoting, Monitoring and Reporting on Judicial Integrity Reforms
The IFES Judicial Integrity Principles and the model framework for an Annual State of the Judiciary Report were prepared for discussion during a Workshop on Jud icial Integrity at the 11th Transparency International Global Conference held in Seoul, South Korea, May 25-28, 2003. The JIP represent high priority consensus principles and emerging best practices found in virtually all global and regional governmental and non-governmental instruments related to the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. The JIP are aimed at fostering an enabling environment and legal culture necessary for the rule of law to take root, with specific emphasis on judicial independence, accountability and transparency. For purposes of this paper, judicial integrity is not limited to judicial ethics and professional conduct, but is understood to cover, inter alia, judicial independence, judicial accountability, judicial transparency, judicial ethics and the fair and effective enforcement of judgments.
June 30, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
Incarceration and Enfranchisement: International Practices, Impact and Recommendations for Reform
Introduction Ex-prisoner Joe Loya describes his reintegration into democratic society in the following way: "A few weeks ago I received voter-registration material in the mail. There it was, clearly marked, my disqualification. 'You must NOT be in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony.' "I felt obligated to press further, to fight for the privilege. I telephoned the registrar and explained that I'm on 'supervisory release,' not parole. Could I vote? "She had to check. On hold, I thought about the almost 3 million felons like me who have served our sentences but still can't vote. Some of us are permanently barred. She came back on line. "'Nope, you still can't vote.' "I came out of prison wanting to think and act 100 percent different than when I went in. I supposed that the opposite of the virulently anti-social criminal is an optimistic civic-minded citizen." Joe’s experience is not unique to the United States. Dozens of other nations place either temporary or permanent voting restrictions on individuals who have been or are currently incarcerated, causing distressing numbers of individuals to be excluded from the civil process. This paper addresses the issues surrounding the enfranchisement (or disenfranchisement) of the penal and ex-penal population worldwide. It begins by addressing the historical and theoretical basis for the exclusion of prisoners and ex-prisoners from the vote. Legal exclusions in most countries consider removal from the civil process as an additional punishment for those who have broken the law. This project then explores various international and peace agreements that govern the voting rights of prisoners and ex-prisoners. As we will see, these agreements are often at odds with country-specific laws. Nations that include or exclude prisoners and exprisoners are then categorized and ranked on a four-point scale according to level of inclusion in the political process. From these classifications, several country-based case studies are presented and analyzed with more depth to provide a cultural and political sense of the practices and impacts in specific countries. Finally, recommendations on reform and informational products are offered as a way to tie together multiple forms of international practice on prisoner’s rights.
June 30, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
International Observation Mission Paraguay: General Elections April 27, 2003. Final Report
This report is issued as a record of the observations made by the IFES mission concerning the 2003 nationwide elections in Paraguay. It also presents a series of technical suggestions for the consideration of the Paraguayan government in the organization and administration of future elections.
June 18, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
Paraguay: Mision de Observacion Internacional, Elecciones Generales, 27 de Abril del 2003, Informe Final
June 18, 2003
Publication
Report/Paper
Evaluation of IFES Civic Education Programs in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan
IFES has an active civic education program in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. The program consists of seven activities--almost all of them directed at high school students--with four of the activities operational in all three countries.
May 31, 2003