Missing in Action: Where is Civic Space in UNCAC Reviews?
In 2025, BIICL researchers worked with Transparency International on the Assessment of the review mechanism of the UN Convention Against Corruption.
The study aimed to assess whether reviews of Article 13 of the Convention, which enshrines civil society participation in anti-corruption efforts, capture the challenges that civil society faces when participating in anti-corruption efforts and whether they help foster an enabling environment for civil society's participation in anti-corruption efforts. The research found that ''the review mechanism paints a picture of a world with very few challenges to civil society's participation and an abundance of good practices, which does not match reality. The real issues that affect civil society participation - attacks, impunity for attacks, and enforcement of laws that restrict civic space, freedom of association, assembly and expression - are absent from the reviews.
In 86 per cent of cases reviewed for this research, clear differences were identified between what the IRM says on civil society participation and what is documented by UN human rights bodies.
The BIICL contribution to this report, including desk research, analysis of IRM and related reports and interviews with stakeholders was led by Dr Rosana Garciandia and involved Dr Céline Hocquet, Sara Al Khaslock, and Dr Jean-Pierre Gauci. It was published by Transparency International in December 2025.
Corruption and civic space are two issues of significant interest to BIICL and we remain committed to expanding our work on these issues. Other BIICL work in this area includes Other BIICL work on these issues includes: training, projects, publications, and events.
