Highlights of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
Highlights of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
Submitted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Regional Office for South Asia
The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the first global legally binding anti-corruption instrument. It entered into force on 14 December 2005 and has been ratified by 158 Member States of the United Nations to date.
The UNCAC has eight chapters and covers five main areas: prevention, criminalization and law enforcement measures, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange. The Convention covers different forms of corruption, such as trading in influence, abuse of power, and also various acts of corruption in the private sector. A specific chapter of the Convention also deals with the recovery of assets, a major concern for countries that pursue the assets of former leaders and other officials accused or found to have engaged in corruption.
Prevention
An entire chapter of the Convention is dedicated at prevention of corruption, with measures directed at both the public and private sectors. These include model preventive policies, such as the establishment of anticorruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties. States must ensure that public services are subject to safeguards that promote efficiency, transparency and recruitment based on merit. Once recruited, public servants should be subject to codes of conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosures, and appropriate disciplinary measures. Transparency and accountability in matters of public finance must also be promoted, and specific requirements are established for the prevention of corruption, in areas such as the judiciary and public procurement. Those who use public services must be enabled to claim a high standard of conduct from public servants. Preventing public corruption also requires an effort from all members of society at large. For these reasons, the Convention calls on countries to actively promote the involvement of non-governmental and community-based organizations and other civil society partners, and raise public awareness about corruption and what can be done about it.
Criminalization
The Convention requires countries to establish criminal and other offences for a wide range of acts of corruption in their domestic legislation. The Convention goes beyond previous instruments, criminalizing not only the most-known forms of corruption such as bribery and the embezzlement of public funds, but also related practices, such as trading in influence and the concealment and laundering of the proceeds of corruption. Offences committed in support of corruption, including money-laundering and obstructing justice, are also dealt with. The Convention also deals with the problematic areas of private-sector corruption.
International cooperation
Countries agreed to cooperate with one another in every aspect of fighting corruption, including prevention, investigation and the prosecution of offenders. Countries have committed through the their accession to the Convention to use mechanisms , such as mutual legal assistance and extradition requests as well as to gather and share information and intelligence. Countries are also required to undertake measures which will support the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption.
Asset recovery
In a major breakthrough, countries agreed on asset-recovery, which is stated explicitly as a fundamental principle of the Convention. This is a particularly important issue for many developing countries where wide-spread corruption has plundered national wealth, and where resources are badly needed for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of societies. . Reaching agreement on this issue has involved intensive negotiations, as the needs of countries seeking to recover the illicit assets had to be reconciled with the legal procedures of the countries whose assistance is sought.
Effective asset-recovery provisions will support the efforts of countries to redress the worst effects of corruption while sending at the same time, a message to corrupt officials that there will be no place to hide their illicit assets.
UNODC’s work on anti-corruption
The primary goal of the anti-corruption work done by UNODC is to provide States with practical assistance and build the technical capacity needed to implement the Convention. Efforts concentrate on supporting Member States in the development of anti-corruption policies and institutions, including preventive anti-corruption frameworks. As the Guardian of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, UNODC has resident in-depth knowledge on the Convention emanating from having been actively engaged in the negotiation of the treaty by member states. As the Secretariat of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, and its established Implementation Review Mechanism, UNODC facilitates and supports the analysis of States Parties' self-assessment reports and peer reviews. UNODC is also mandated to compile technical assistance needs identified through the self-assessment checklist, analyze gaps in implementing UNCAC and thus assist the Conference in identifying technical assistance priorities and develop responses. UNODC also works to match those in need of technical assistance with technical assistance providers. The UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism provides further an opportunity to review the impact of technical assistance delivered on a country's compliance with UNCAC, i.e. to assess whether the assistance has achieved the goals and filled the gaps identified.