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The global civil society network for the implementation and monitoring of the
United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)

Dear Reader,

We have launched our new strategy which aims to empower civil society and achieve more transparent and effective UNCAC implementation.

Created in consultation with our network of members and affiliates, and our Board, this strategy sets out the ambition for the Coalition’s focus in the coming years. We are grateful to all those who contributed – and we will continue to need the support of our network, partners, as well as donors, to make progress towards these goals.

Our strategic priorities are:

1. Better implementation of the UNCAC,

2. Stronger UNCAC standards and processes, addressing gaps and weaknesses in the current framework,

3. A safe, enabling, and inclusive environment for civil society to contribute to anti-corruption efforts.

Working together to combat corruption is more important than ever. Aligned by a common vision and committed to a shared strategy, the Coalition and its network is stronger and more empowered to tackle corruption worldwide.

Read or download the Coalition’s strategy 2023-26, also published on our website.

Reflecting on the 2nd Summit for Democracy

Our last newsletter focused on the 2nd Summit for Democracy (S4D2). In this newsletter, we take a look back at what happened at the Summit.

One highlight worth recognizing: 35 countries (re-)committed to actions on Beneficial Ownership and Misuse of Legal Persons, calling for the effective implementation of the revised Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Recommendation 24 on transparency of beneficial ownership information. Governments commit to updating their legal and regulatory frameworks to ensure that law enforcement and other competent authorities have efficient access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information and to develop appropriate verification measures. The commitments also include prioritizing the financial, personnel, and technical resources necessary for implementation, and to share beneficial ownership information with foreign partners. The countries also recognize the important role of civil society in efforts to strengthen financial transparency and commit to “continued and consistent engagement with civil society to advance beneficial ownership reforms.”

Open Ownership rightly highlights that the UNCAC CoSP10 in December “is an important opportunity to leverage the momentum that the Summit for Democracy has generated, and take action to raise the bar of global standards on beneficial ownership transparency as a critical tool for preventing corruption, as well as for fighting money laundering and recovering stolen assets. Governments, civil society and businesses all have a key role to play in converting commitments into action.”

Outcomes from all Democracy Cohorts from the Summit are published online where countries committed to taking action. The UNCAC Coalition and many members were involved in these Democracy Cohorts. The International Cooperation for Anti-Corruption Cohort, with input from the UNCAC Coalition, developed a set of specific calls to action to combat illicit finance, promote recovery of stolen assets and strengthen the implementation of the UNCAC.

As part of the Partners Day at the Summit, the UNCAC Coalition co-organized a webinar, Tackling corruption in shrinking civic space, in collaboration with the Asia Foundation and Transparency International. Watch the recording.

The Indo-Pacific Regional Meeting in Korea focused on anti-corruption and the recordings of these sessions are available online (Opening Session, Non-Governmental Stakeholders in Anti-Corruption Session).

Looking ahead, it was announced that Korea will host a 3rd Summit for Democracy, so there may be more developments in future.

Updates on the UNCAC Review Process

Recent developments in national UNCAC reviews:  

• Cycle 1: Country visit: Japan (12-14 September 2022)

• Cycle 2: The executive summary has been published for Sweden

• Full country reports have been published for Australia and Thailand

• Country visits have been conducted in the following countries: Switzerland (October 2022), Slovakia (October 2022), Romania (November 2022), Kuwait (November 2022), Malawi (November 2022), Costa Rica (December 2022), Iran (January 2023), Antigua and Barbuda (February 2023) and Finland (March 2023)

Australia has published a useful and well-structured voluntary report on measures it is taking to implement the recommendations of the 2nd Cycle review. According to our UNCAC Review Status Tracker, Australia is only the 4th country to report on follow-up, alongside Greece, Mauritius, and North Macedonia.

The annual UNCAC NGO briefing will take place on 13 June on the margins of the UNCAC Implementation Review Group (IRG) meeting. The briefing is open to NGOs that were accredited for CoSP 9, and is the only formal opportunity (outside the CoSP) to exchange with UNODC and States parties about UNCAC implementation and the Review Process. We thus hope for a strong participation of State Party representatives.

We will hold several hybrid events during the week of 12-16 June when the IRG and the UNCAC Working Group on Prevention sessions take place. In collaboration with NGOs and States parties, we are co-organizing these events on issues where we hope to see progress during the upcoming 10th CoSP. More details on these events are coming soon.

Regional Coalition meetings

Coalition members and affiliates regularly meet to share ideas and good practices on regional issues. The latest Asia-Pacific regional meeting discussed gender, inclusion and corruption and the challenge of mainstreaming gender in anti-corruption efforts with speakers from Bangladesh, Caritas Philippines, and Transparency International Sri Lanka.

Vacancies & Opportunities

The UNCAC Coalition has several open vacancies and calls for proposals:

• Regional Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: deadline is 18 May 2023

• Project Officer: deadline is 25 April 2023

• Website redesign and development: deadline for proposals is 28 April 2023

We are also soon recruiting for an Analyst position and an Advocacy and Communications position.

Transparency International Lithuania is currently accepting applications for the Transparency School 2023, which will take place from 26 to 30 June 2023 in Vilnius and online.

Transparency School is an annual state-of-the-art anti-corruption and accountability training for future leaders. The School introduces its participants to the latest developments in the field of anti-corruption and accountability and helps young people implement their ideas in practice. Travel grants are available to the nationals of Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Taiwan.

• The deadline for applications (general admission and with a partial tuition fee waiver) is 28 May 2023.

• The deadline for applications for a full tuition fee waiver is 14 May 2023.

The Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE) program is calling for research projects aimed at generating practical anti-corruption evidence with a focus on ODA-eligible countries. Further details on the program, research themes, and evaluation criteria are available online. The deadline for submission is 1 May 2023, 17:00 ET.

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