View this email in your browser

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

Dear Reader,

Earlier this month, governments and civil society experts met in Vienna to discuss progress towards implementing the commitments they made in the Political Declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in a Special Session (UNGASS) in June 2021.

Below, we summarize some key takeaways from those panels and our side-events. Further in this newsletter, find updates on the UNCAC review process and interesting reads.

The UNGASS Political Declaration is an important document in the global fight against corruption because it represents the latest global consensus on tackling corruption. We covered highlights on twitter and have a dedicated website page with more information. Read our latest blog for a detailed summary and more analysis of what governments said.

UNODC has also recently launched a new portal where States report on measures they have taken to implement the Political Declaration, for example to advance preventive measures, criminalization & law enforcement, and asset recovery efforts, among other areas. Unfortunately, so far, not many States have provided voluntary written follow-up reporting on their activities to implement the Political Declaration. We would be interested to know your perspective from civil society.

Key takeaways from the UNGASS Intersessional Meetings

Find out more about the panel speakers and their presentations on the UNODC event page.

Panel on Preventive Measures

• Speaking about future CoSP resolutions, Kristen Robinson from Open Contracting Partnership (OCP) highlighted that a resolution on public procurement would build on progress made on the Political Declaration. Further language could focus on dispute and complaint mechanisms in more detail, addressing how things that go wrong can be flagged more effectively and in a timely manner. She highlighted the need for more specificity on the role of civil society and media in monitoring public procurement, citing many best practice examples:

“We need to look at several guidance documents that already exist, although a bit outdated, we need to see what to add to that and which gaps there are, especially on technology and data such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning; and look at new areas such as sustainability and green procurement.” - Kristen Robinson from Open Contracting Partnership (OCP)

• Following several corruption scandals, the Slovak Republic created a Public Sector Partners Register for verifying companies wanting to do business with the State. Companies must approach a ‘gatekeeper’ to verify ownership. Slovakia underlined the benefits of the register being freely accessible to the public.

• Richard Nephew, newly-appointed U.S. Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption, highlighted his government’s extensive engagement with civil society actors and stressed that civil society often has a clear view of corruption problems, for example involving private sector actors, which the government may not be aware of, as well as a better idea of deficiencies in anti-corruption:

“We had good, active, frank dialogue to address these issues - we want to get a better sense of what we could do better, and what we could do next.” - Richard Nephew, U.S. Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption

From left to right: Samantha Feinstein, (Government Accountability Project and Co-Vice Chair of the UNCAC Coalition’s Board), Kristen Robinson (OCP), Richard Nephew (U.S. Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption) and Mathias Huter (Managing Director of the UNCAC Coalition), at the UNGASS Intersessional meeting, Vienna, September 2022. Photo credit: Coordinator Richard Nephew Twitter

Panel on Asset Recovery

• Nigeria recognized the important monitoring role of civil society in the return of assets. Its Open Treasury Portal is open to the public, civil society and the media for scrutiny. Post-UNGASS, the country recently adopted new laws to strengthen its anti-corruption enforcement measures, including on money laundering and the recovery and management of proceeds of crime.

• Pakistan stated that cooperation needs to be enhanced in order to close existing loopholes, especially on illegal financial proceeds, and proposed an additional protocol for UNCAC asset return to close gaps on mutual assistance and legal norms. The country sees institutions as key in the fight against corruption.

Panel on Anti-corruption as an enabler for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

• Honduras highlighted on how corruption and its previous government harmed the people and society at large – the government is now working to promote reforms for change, and stressed that the support from multilateral fora and the UN is very important to help them make government more transparent and accountable. Representatives from civil society were placed on the nominating committee for judges of the Supreme Court; the national Secretariat of Transparency is working to prevent corruption with crucial support from civil society.
  

• Peter Evans of U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre raised the important question of how much should be spent by governments on anti-corruption efforts and on ensuring that development finance is not transformed into ‘finance for anti-development.’
  

• Kenya has launched a National Anti-Corruption Steering Committee, focused on citizen empowerment. They have established civilian committees; provided citizens with support mechanisms to monitor the spending of public money, as well as informing on how to conduct social audits.

Panel on Technical Assistance
and Information Exchange

• Many governments raised the important role of civil society in efforts to combat corruption and as partners in technical assistance. Germany spoke to the important role of civil society as a watchdog to ensure proper use of public funds. France highlighted the importance of civil society in advancing transparency and accountability and how it supports civil society in these efforts. Norway outlined its support for the UNCAC Coalition and other civil society organizations.
  

• The United States pointed out that the UNGASS political declaration encourages countries to publish full country reports from the IRM, and encouraged countries to sign up to the UNCAC Coalition’s Transparency Pledge.

Panel on Advancing a forward-looking anti-corruption agenda and framework

• The Netherlands highlighted the preliminary findings of a high-level roundtable joint initiative with Canada and Ecuador on how to tackle grand corruption, summarizing the key inputs so far that includes an IRM focused more on implementation and enforcement, and a regional or international anti-corruption court which could be established to close the enforcement gap if national authorities are unwilling or unable to prosecute grand corruption crimes. The three-country team has been consulting governments, international organizations, civil society, and academia.
  

• Nigeria highlighted that the Code of Conduct Bureau Bill is currently before the National Assembly and includes provisions for public disclosure of assets and online asset declarations. Furthermore, a bill to introduce whistleblower and witness protection bill is before the National Assembly.
  

• Romania mentioned that all of its draft anti-corruption strategies benefitted from inter-institutional and civil society consultations. The feedback of NGOs has been crucial, and the government has always encouraged vibrant dialogue. The policies’ novelties include a mechanism for asset recovery, the compensation of victims, and strengthening of institutional administrative capacity.
  

• Italy shared that it is considering a proposal for a resolution to follow up on and implement the Sharm el Sheik Declaration agreed upon at the last CoSP. Italy also said it is exploring approaches to asset recovery, including a new way of using stolen assets, by making them available for use by transnational organizations such as UNODC, or similar.

UNCAC Coalition side-event:
UNGASS follow-up on Recent Developments in Corruption Prevention

Speakers from left to right: Samantha Feinstein, Helen Darbishire and Mathias Huter.
Joined by David Banisar, online (not pictured).

The UNCAC Coalition’s side event, supported by the European Union, evaluated progress towards implementing key prevention commitments reflected in the UNGASS Political Declaration. Leading civil society experts discussed recent developments, progress, and challenges observed globally in advancing access to information, the protection of whistleblowers, freedom of the media, and space for civil society. Key points from each speaker included:

• Helen Darbishire from Access Info Europe highlighted that access to information (ATI) is a core right, however, its implementation is hard to measure due to a lack of information published by governments on it. We have made some progress, but challenges remain in terms of ensuring effective public access proactively or upon request. We need available data held by government bodies to be made transparent and accessible for collaborative efforts to progress on the SDGs.

• Samantha Feinstein from Government Accountability Project GAP, USA, underscored the importance of whistleblowers, which are a powerful tool for fraud prevention. It is important for the next CoSP to have a dedicated resolution on whistleblowers, including specific measures that actualize the intentions behind people reporting corruption.

• David Banisar from Article19, spoke about backsliding democracy and transparency, to the detriment of journalists and whistleblowers. He referred to the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders’ report on defenders who work on anti-corruption, which is unique in its recognition of the nexus between corruption and whistleblowers.

UNCAC Coalition side-event:
UNGASS follow-up on Recent Developments in Asset Recovery

Speakers from left to right: Naomi Roht-Arriaza, Sankhitha Gunaratne,
Mathias Huter, Gillan Dell and David Ugolor.

The UNCAC Coalition’s side event, organized with support of the United States, highlighted the need for active follow-up to the UNGASS political declaration in relation to asset recovery, including formal monitoring, increased technical assistance to origin countries, and coordination with similar discussions in other international standard-setting forums. Key points from the civil society experts, who all serve on the UNCAC Coalition’s board, included:

• David Ugolor from ANEEJ, Nigeria, spoke about the differences between the Abacha I and Abacha II looting cases and the successful involvement of civil society in the second case. The lack of transparency about where funds went after the Abacha I case prompted civil society actors to sign an MoU with the Nigerian government, and over 200 CSOs monitored the disbursement of funds from the central bank to poor families in the return of the Abacha II assets – a model, that could be replicated elsewhere.

• Sankhitha Gunaratne from TI Sri Lanka highlighted the struggles of the country’s ongoing economic and political crisis, and the necessity of state action to initiate asset recovery efforts. She also highlighted the strong public demands for a recovery of stolen assets. The rapid spread of disinformation can be countered through initiatives like the GlobE network: a platform for cross-border information exchange to end corruption.

• Naomi Roht-Arriaza, professor of law at the University of California Hastings, USA, and board member of the Due Process of Law Foundation DPLF spoke about victims of corruption and receiving compensation, drawing on different examples from around the world. Identifying specific groups of victims enables us to demand their participation in the process of restitution. The legal standing of NGOs to act on behalf of and represent public interests has also led to success stories, such as the Obiang case involving France and Equatorial Guinea. She also referred to the many creative ways in which funds can be returned, including through national funds, purpose-built foundations and tailored asset returns, among others.

• Gillian Dell from the Transparency International Secretariat expressed the need for a formal follow-up process in relation to the UNGASS Political Declaration. While updates in asset recovery suggest some progress, beneficial ownership registers should be a requirement for countries, with provisions on, for instance, making them public. This was the subject of both a CoSP 9 resolution, as well as a joint submission by TI and the UNCAC Coalition at the same Conference.

UNCAC Review Process

The European Commission has released the self-assessment for the European Union’s First Cycle UNCAC Implementation Review. It is the first time that an UNCAC review process takes place to assess implementation by institutions of a multilateral organization – the EU – which is a State Party to the UNCAC.

Transparency International – Brazil has just published its parallel assessments on national UNCAC implementation, produced with support from the UNCAC Coalition.

UNCAC Coalition Board Leadership Roles

UNCAC Reviews: The Way Forward

Interesting Reads

Upcoming Events

• Open Government Partnership – Europe Regional Meeting (Rome): 11-12 October 2022

• UNTOC Conference of the States Parties (Vienna): 17-21 October 2022

• Open Government Partnership – Africa and the Middle East Regional Meeting (Marrakech): 1-3 November 2022

• G20 Leaders Summit (Bali) – 15-16 November 2022