San José, Costa Rica, June 11-13, 2024. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) held a regional workshop focused on judicial compliance and the management of conflicts of interest in the judiciary.
This event brought together representatives from compliance offices, supreme courts, and judicial councils from the six countries of the Central American platform to accelerate the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in this region: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. Additionally, Ecuador also participated as an invited jurisdiction to enrich the dialogue and foster interregional exchange.
During the workshop, the importance of sharing experiences, challenges, good practices, and lessons learned among participants in the necessary judicial accountability was emphasized, while ensuring judicial independence and strengthening the integrity of justice systems. Mechanisms to reinforce the institutional framework of the judicial system in the participating countries were analyzed, including judicial compliance policies and the adoption of new technologies.
Various strategies to manage risks associated with corruption and conflicts of interest from different perspectives and in response to emerging issues were also explored.
As a result of this meeting, concrete recommendations and proposals were generated to strengthen judicial integrity, manage corruption risks, and conflicts of interest in the judicial system. The establishment of informal networks of collaboration and cooperation was also promoted to foster knowledge exchange among the different actors involved, with the aim of strengthening judicial integrity at the regional level.
The workshop represented a significant step towards consolidating judicial integrity in the region through the exploration of such a novel topic as judicial compliance, paving the way for future dialogues and collaborations that will further strengthen the judicial system in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This activity facilitated the exchange of experiences in compliance and policies for regulating conflicts of interest and also served as a prelude to the upcoming Regional Meeting on Judicial Integrity for Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in August in Brazil.
This event is part of the efforts made by the UNODC Regional Anti-Corruption Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen the culture of integrity and cooperation among State Parties and institutions to collaborate in the prevention and fight against corruption. In this case, the judicial sector constitutes one of the fundamental pillars in the fight against corruption in a transversal manner within the institutional framework of the State Parties.
This meeting was made possible thanks to the support of the U.S. Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and the Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program (ACCBP), funded by the Government of Canada.