These pages give information on the Judiciary Advocacy activities in the TI global movement, tools used in the fight against judicial corruption, the TI-S Judiciary Advocacy Working Group, resources on upcoming judicial events and useful links.

It is difficult to overstate the negative impact of a corrupt judiciary: it erodes the ability of the international community to tackle transnational crime and terrorism; it diminishes trade, economic growth and human development; and most importantly, it denies citizens impartial settlement of disputes with neighbors or the authorities. When the latter occurs, corrupt judiciaries fracture and divide communities by keeping alive the sense of injury created by unjust treatment and mediation. This way judicial corruption not only maintains social segregation but also fundamentally violates human rights by jeopardizing the due process of law. Corruption occurs at every step of the judicial system, ranging from political interference in the judicial process by government agencies, to small-scale bribery by court clercks.

Examples are numerous: the executive may affect the independence of the judiciary through appointment of members of judiciary not based on objective criteria, outright selling of judgeships and removal of judges critical towards the government. A judge may solicit bribes to delay or accelerate court hearings, or to simply decide a case in favour of a particular party. Lawyers may expedite or delay cases, sometimes working in unison with a judge and/or a prosecutor. Court clercks may demand bribes to perform a task they are already paid for. Judicial systems debased by bribery undermine confidence in governance by facilitating corruption across all sectors of government, starting at the helm of power. In so doing they send a blunt message to the people: in this country corruption is tolerated.

TI, as reflected in four policy position papers, particularly advocates for the following issues in the field of judicial reform:

These points have been conspicuously absent from many judicial reform programmes over the past two decades, which have tended to focus on court administration and capacity building, ignoring problems related to judicial independence and accountability. Much money has been spent training judges without addressing expectations and incentives for judges to act with integrity. Money has also been spent automating the courts or otherwise trying to reduce court workloads and streamline case management, which, if unaccompanied by increased accountability, risks making corrupt courts more efficiently corrupt.