Analysing Governments’ Commitments to Fight Sexual Corruption Worldwide

Photo credit: International Lawyers Project

Situation

Sexual corruption, or sexual extortion - in which an abuse of power is coupled with a demand for a sexual favour – is widespread, yet it has long been a neglected and under-researched dimension of the global fight against corruption. To date, only four countries have explicitly criminalised this form of corruption in their domestic legislation, and perpetrators largely continue to act with impunity. Reporting sexual corruption is frequently met with indifference, a lack of empathy or even victim-blaming by law enforcement authorities, further discouraging survivors from seeking justice. Emerging digital and financial tracking tools that are often promoted as solutions to corruption in public service delivery usually fail to address this highly personal and coercive form of bribery.

In 2023, in a sign of shifting international attitudes, the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) adopted a landmark resolution formally committing states to closing legislative gaps and taking further measures to prevent and prosecute sexual corruption effectively.

ILP’s Action

ILP assisted the UNCAC Coalition, a leading civil society network monitoring implementation of UNCAC commitments, to assess whether governments had translated their pledges into concrete action, mobilising nearly a dozen volunteer lawyers to examine developments in legislation and judicial practice relating to sexual corruption across 48 jurisdictions. The review focused on whether countries had introduced legal reforms, adapted prosecutorial approaches or taken practical steps to improve the handling of sexual corruption cases. The findings were subsequently reviewed and validated by researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden. The analysis revealed some progress, but overall advances remain limited and uneven, underscoring the continued need for targeted advocacy, legal reform and capacity building efforts within justice systems. 

Impact

In December 2025, the findings of the research informed advocacy at the eleventh Conference of States Parties to UNCAC. The UNCAC Coalition co-organised three dedicated side events focusing on corruption and its gender dimension, all of which were well attended, reflecting the growing awareness and interest in these issues among governments and civil society actors. ILP participated in one of these events alongside Sweden’s Ambassador to Qatar and researchers from Sweden, Tanzania and Sri Lanka.

ILP’s research also underpinned the UNCAC Coalition’s interactive database tracking the status of national legislation and policy responses to sexual corruption, to be launched in summer 2026, which will support continued monitoring and action. Sexual corruption is at last firmly embedded on the agenda of anti-bribery initiatives.