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UN convention against corruption
An overview
Khan Ferdousour Rahman
Since 2003, it had been a continuous demand from the civil society to the last elected government to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Recently, the present non-party Caretaker Government (CG) has decided to ratify the UNCAC. The Advisor on Foreign Affairs of the CG, Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said that his ministry has prepared the necessary draft. Once the Chief Advisor of the CG approves it, he will take all necessary measures to ratify the Convention.
On December 04, 2000 the General Assembly of the UN recognised that an effective international legal instrument against corruption was desirable and decided to establish an adhoc committee for the negotiation of such instrument in Vienna through a resolution. The Convention approved by the said committee was adopted by the General Assembly by another resolution on October 31, 2003. The General Assembly also accepted the offer of the Mexican government to host a high-level political conference for the purpose of signing the Convention and invited all States to be represented at the Conference at the highest possible level of government. Between December 09 and 11, 2003 high-level representatives from more than 120 countries gathered in Merida, Mexico and 95 countries signed this historic Convention. The Convention entered into force on December 2005 with 30 ratifications.
UNCAC has a preamble, 08 chapters and 71 articles. Chapter I (Article 1 to 4) deals with general provisions, Chapter II (Article 5 to 14) with preventive measures, Chapter III (Article 15 to 42) with criminalisation and law enforcement, Chapter IV (Article 43 to 50) with international cooperation, Chapter V (Article 51 to 59) with asset recovery, Chapter VI (Article 60 to 62) with technical assistance and information exchange, Chapter VII (Article 63 to 64) with implementation mechanism; and Chapter VIII (Article 65 to 71) with the final provisions.
The UNCAC was negotiated and agreed upon among the nations and represents international consensus about what states should do in the areas of corruption prevention and criminalisation, as well as international cooperation and asset recovery. It recognises the commonality and complexity of the problem among all nations and shared responsibilities in cases of cross-border corruption activities. It covers both public and private sector corruption which includes domestic and overseas bribery, embezzlement, trading in influence and money laundering.
For monitoring of UNCAC, the first session of the Conference of the parties to the UN Convention against Corruption (COSP-1) was held at King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre, Dead Sea, Jordan from December 10 to 14, 2006. The responsibilities of the Conference were to review the implementation of the Convention by State parties and make recommendations to improve the Convention and its implementation. The Conference was at liberty to put into effect supplemental review mechanisms to asses the measures taken by State parties to implement the Convention. The COSP-2 and COSP-3 will be held in 2007 and 2008, respectively.
Among the significances, it is the only Convention that is truly global and has set a common standard, having the provision of asset recovery. It has put importance on international cooperation especially in extradition and investigation. It has included private sector corruption and has covered means and standards for preventive measures for both public and private sectors. It has recognised the role of civil society in fighting corruption, need for access to information, accountability of legal professionals, and protection of witnesses, reporting persons and victims. It has also included compensation provision for the persons suffering damages and finally information exchange including technical and financial assistance for the developing countries.
UNCAC is the first legal instrument against corruption for both developed and developing countries, and both public and private sectors. The Convention provides a great breakthrough in international cooperation for mutual legal assistance and recovery of illicit assets related to corruption. Finally, the need for an effective monitoring mechanism to any international instrument can hardly be overemphasised.
The author is a freelancer.
