The Progressive Development of International Law on the Return of Stolen Assets: Mapping the Paths Forward

<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>The Progressive Development of International Law on the Return of Stolen Assets: Mapping the Paths Forward - EJIL</title> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" /> <meta name="application-name" content="EJIL"> <meta name="author" content="EJIL"> <meta name="keywords" content="" /> <meta name="description" content="" />  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-BVYiiSIFeK1dGmJRAkycuHAHRg32OmUcww7on3RYdg4Va+PmSTsz/K68vbdEjh4u" crossorigin="anonymous"> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans" rel="stylesheet"> <link href="./css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> </head> <body> <header> <div class="pre-nav container-full"> <img id="logo" src="/images/logo.svg" alt="EJIL"> <div id="metaNav"> <nav role="navigation" aria-label="Meta navigation"> <ul class="remove-list-style"> <li id="skippy"><a href="#content" class="sr-only sr-only-focusable">Skip to main content</a></li> <li><a href="/contactus.php">Contact</a></li> <li><a href="http://services.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/alerts/etoc?goAlpha=Alphabetically">Join Mailing List</a></li> </ul> </nav> <form action="search.php" method="post" id="search" class="searchform"> <label for="keywords" class="hidden">Search</label> <input type="text" id="keywords" name="keywords" placeholder="Search" /> </form> </div> </div> <div id="primaryNav"> <nav class="container" role="navigation" aria-label="Main navigation"> <ul id="menu-main" class="nav nav-justified nav-tabs"> <li class=""><a class="" href="/index.php">Home</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/about/index.php">About EJIL</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/current.php">Current issue</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/live.php">EJIL: <strong><em>Live!</em></strong></a></li> <li class=""><a href="/podcasts.php">EJIL: <strong><em>The Podcast!</em></strong></a></li> <li class=""><a href="/bookreviews/index.php">Book reviews</a></li> <li class=""><a href="/archives.php">Archives</a></li> </ul> </nav> </div> </header> <main class="generalpage container content article"> <h1>Critical Review of Governance</h1> <div class="title">The Progressive Development of International Law on the Return of Stolen Assets: Mapping the Paths Forward</div> <ul class='authors'> <li>Rose, Cecily <a href='#1'>1</a></li> </ul> <h2>Abstract</h2> <p class='abstract'>The return of stolen assets represents a ‘fundamental principle’ of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). The convention’s inclusion of a chapter on asset recovery was considered a groundbreaking achievement at the time of the treaty’s conclusion in 2003. The treaty negotiations concerning these provisions, however, were highly controversial, and the discussions did not benefit from a substantial body of practical experience concerning the return of stolen assets. In the 20 years since the treaty’s conclusion, states have acquired some experience with asset return, and the gaps and limitations in UNCAC’s regime governing asset recovery have become apparent. Article 57 of UNCAC, concerning asset return and disposal, exemplifies the need for progressive development of international asset recovery laws. Article 57 requires ‘updating’ or supplementation because the provision does not adequately address major recurrent issues, such as the recipients, use and monitoring of returned assets; the transparency of the asset return process; and the participation of civil society in the process. Normative development could involve formal law reform, within the UNCAC legal framework, but it could also involve more informal legal change, outside of the UNCAC regime. The Global Forum on Asset Recovery represents an important example of legal change that raises issues of both accountability and effectiveness.</p> <ul class="authors_infos remove-list-style"> <li><a id='1' name='1'>1</a>Associate Professor, Leiden Law School, The Netherlands. Email: c.e.rose@law.leidenuniv.nl. The author is grateful to Rachel Brewster, Laurence Helfer and Radha Ivory for their thoughtful comments on previous versions of this article, and to Maria Jaramillo Gomez for her excellent research assistance.</li> </ul> <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-download-alt" aria-hidden="true"></span> <a href='./pdfs/35/3/3438.pdf' target='_blank' onclick="ga('send', 'event', 'File', 'PDF', 'Vol. 35 (2024) No. 3 - The Progressive Development of International Law on the Return of Stolen Assets: Mapping the Paths Forward (./pdfs/35/3/3438.pdf)');">Full text available in PDF format</a><div id='download_acrobat_reader'>The free viewer (Acrobat Reader) for PDF file is available at the <a href='http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html'>Adobe Systems</a></div> <div class="navigation"> <a href='article.php?article=3443&issue=171'>Previous Page</a><a href='archive.php?issue=171'>Table of contents</a><a href='article.php?article=3436&issue=171'>Next Page</a> </div> </main> <footer> <ul class="logos remove-list-style"> <li><a href="https://www.eui.eu/en/academic-units/academy-of-european-law"><img src="./images/logo_eui.png" alt="EUI"></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.law.nyu.edu/"><img src="./images/logo_nyu.png" alt="NYU Law"></a></li> <li><a href="http://ejil.oxfordjournals.org/"><img src="./images/logo_oups.png" alt="Oxford University Press"></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.esil-sedi.eu/"><img src="./images/logo_esil.png" alt="ESIL"></a></li> </ul> <p>© 1998 - 2025 European Journal of International Law <br />All comments and suggestions should be sent to the Webmaster. <br />This site is part of the Academy of European Law online, a joint partnership of the Jean Monnet Center at NYU School of Law and the Academy of European Law at the European University Institute.</p> </footer> </body>  <script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-11073886-2', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.2.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="./js/analytics.js"></script> </html>

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The Progressive Development of International Law on the Return of Stolen Assets: Mapping the Paths Forward - EJIL