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The global civil society network for the implementation and monitoring of the
United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) |
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Dear Reader, What is the status of the UNCAC implementation review in your country? It is actually quite difficult to find out, at what stage of the review process a country is, due to the processes’ limited transparency. That’s why the UNCAC Coalition has just launched its UNCAC Review Status Tracker, which provides overview tables of the status of the UNCAC review in all States Parties for both the 1st and 2nd review cycle, grouped by region and year of review. We combine information we have obtained from national governments with data from the UNODC website. Find out more here! Also in this newsletter: upcoming important UN meetings, the exclusion of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime from the UNTOC Implementation Review Mechanism, recent developments from the UNCAC Coalition, and interesting reads.
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Important registration deadlines for UN fora |
The annual UNCAC NGO briefing conducted by UNODC will take place on Wednesday, 15 June 2022 from 13:15 to 15:00 (Vienna time) in a hybrid format (at the Vienna International Center, and via MS Teams) on the margins of the UNCAC Implementation Review Group’s 13th Session. UNODC will provide thematic updates on UNCAC implementation. To attend the briefing in person or online, please register with UNODC before the end of today, Tuesday, 31 May (only ECOSOC NGOs and organizations that were registered for the UNCAC CoSP9 are eligible to attend). For more details, including how to apply, please see our overview here. The eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (COP UNTOC) will be held from 17 to 21 October 2022 in Vienna, Austria. This intergovernmental Conference will discuss, among other things, the implementation of the Convention and its three Protocols. The strong links between organized crime and corruption are likely to feature in the discussions. Deadline for NGO observers to apply is 12 June 2022. More information and guidance on how to apply can be found here in English and in French. |
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| Recent Activities Member in the Spotlight |
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Spotlight on Corruption is an anti-corruption organization that seeks to end corruption within the UK, as well as wherever the UK forms part of transnational corruption networks, through an emphasis on legal systems that work and effective enforcement of the law. Over the past years, Spotlight on Corruption has highlighted corruption-related risks around golden visas through a report and amendment in parliament; writing case studies concerning the biggest corruption-related court cases in the UK; providing expert evidence to parliamentary committees reviewing ethical standards in government, and much more. Learn more about Spotlight on Corruption’s work here! |
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General Membership Assembly |
Close to 70 UNCAC Coalition members took part in the recent annual general assembly where the UNCAC Coalition’s Vienna Hub team provided a recap of activities which took place throughout 2021 and our plans and budget for 2022. Members also discussed a draft of our next organizational strategy. Interested in joining the UNCAC Coalition? Membership is open to civil society organizations with a track record of working on transparency, accountability, anti-corruption and other issues that link to the UNCAC. |
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Regional Meetings for 2022 |
CSOs in the Coalition’s network came together for a series of regional meetings this month: The Europe regional meeting focused on whistleblower protection, with speakers from Transparency International, Czechia, and Macedonia taking the floor to present initiatives and discuss challenges around the implementation of the EU Whistleblowing Directive. The Latin America & Caribbean regional meeting focussed on asset and interest declarations for more transparency and accountability, with insights from Costa Rica, Chile, and Mexico, followed by group discussions. The Sub-Saharan Africa regional meeting addressed transparency and accountability in the extractive industries, with presentations from organizations in Namibia, Madagascar, and Uganda. The Asia-Pacific regional meeting included presentations from Thailand, Australia, and the Philippines, as well as an anti-corruption expert from the Sub-Saharan African region on issues related to corruption in the extractive industries.
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Exclusion of GI-TOC from the
UNTOC Implementation Review Mechanism |
The recent exclusion of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), a leading global civil society organization with expertise on and relevance to transnational organized crime and the UN Convention Against Transnational Crime (UNTOC), once again highlights shrinking space for civil society in Vienna UN fora. Single countries are abusing the “Vienna spirit of consensus”, a tradition under which decisions are made by consensus rather than by voting, to arbitrarily exclude NGOs from meetings due to political reasons, without providing any evidence to substantiate their severe accusations against these organizations. In the case of GI-TOC, the Secretariat of the UNTOC did not provide the organization with an invitation to the first Constructive Dialogue on the UNTOC Implementation Review Mechanism. Delegations of 41 countries responded to the exclusion with a letter stating: “Neither the UNTOC nor the Rules of Procedure for the COP or for any of its subsidiary bodies provide a rationale that would require the Secretariat to choose, as its default, not to issue GI-TOC an invitation, particularly when the COP has already approved the NGO as an Observer under rule 17 of the COP’s Rules of Procedure. In the absence of such clarity, the Secretariat and Bureau should choose to be inclusive, not exclusive, particularly to remain true to the spirit and letter of the drafters of the UNTOC and its Review Mechanism.” |
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Recent Developments from the UNCAC Review Cycles |
Under the 2nd Cycle of the UNCAC review, the Bahamas and the Philippines have published their Executive Summaries. Country Visits have been conducted for Mongolia (April 2022) and Brazil (May 2022). |
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| EU Parliament supports inclusion of CSOs in UNCAC CoSP bodiesThe European Parliament recently called for the inclusion of NGOs as observers in UNCAC CoSP subsidiary bodies and other multilateral anti-corruption mechanisms. It also called for increased efforts in all EU Member States to confiscate and return stolen assets, in line with the UNCAC, and for returning them in a transparent and accountable manner to countries of origin and victims, including by meaningfully involving CSOs. | |
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U.S. Courts “Gut” Key Provision of UNCACMexico’s main social service agency, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), sued two U.S. companies for bribing Mexican government officials, Maggie Gardner of Cornell Law School writes on the Transnational Litigation Blog. IMSS argued that the UNCAC guarantees the option of suing in U.S. courts. The decisions of both courts suggest that any suit brought by any foreign government for foreign bribery by a U.S. company will be dismissed for forum non conveniens, arguing that foreign courts are better placed to decide on the matter. | |
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| States report on use of tech and awareness-raising in UNCAC implementationAhead of a meeting of the UNCAC Working Group on Prevention in June, some 40 States have reported on:
– how they promote the use of technology in the implementation of the UNCAC, and on
– challenges and good practices in anti-corruption awareness-raising, education, training and research. | |
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The role of whistleblowers in countering COVID-19 disinformationThe Government Accountability Project and Manchester Metropolitan University released a report, which tracks COVID-19 related whistleblower cases around the world and analyzes the role that whistleblowers played in countering disinformation. | |
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CASE publishes report on how SLAPPS threaten European Democracy The Coalition Against SLAPPS in Europe (CASE) has published a report on how Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” (SLAPPS) threaten the rule of law and human rights in Europe, with references to many different case studies. The report is authored by The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, alongside Greenpeace and Amsterdam Law Clinics. | |
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| Launch of new corruption and transparency index The Corruption Risk Forecast, an effort of ERCAS, ACGC and CIPE, has released three new indicators and a forecast tool in an effort to measure corruption for over 120 countries: The Index of Public Integrity (IPI), The Transparency Index (T-Index), and The Corruption Risk Forecast (CRF). | |
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Enforcement action on foreign bribery TRACE, a non-profit business association dedicated to anti-bribery, compliance, and good governance, has published the Global Enforcement Report (GER) for 2021, which provides an updated summary of international enforcement of foreign bribery provisions. | |
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