PRESS STATEMENT, Tuesday, 27 November 2013 – Over 1000 government officials gathered yesterday at a United Nations summit in Panama on the tenth anniversary of adoption of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Transparency International is calling on the summit to strengthen the review process that checks country compliance with the convention.
The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the foremost instrument for overcoming global corruption, ratified by 168 countries to date, an impressive achievement. Malaysia became a signatory of the UNCAC on 9 December 2003 (International Anti-Corruption Day), and ratified the anti-corruption Convention on 24 September 2008.
A new report from Transparency International shows the most effective way to assure continued country commitment and momentum is for action to improve country reviews and their follow-up of the recommendations coming out of it.
Transparency International is making the following recommendations to the Conference of State Parties to the UNCAC (CoSP):
1. Follow-up Action on Country Reports: A follow-up process must be established to ensure prompt government action to carry out recommendations made in country reviews. Transparency International urges that governments issue action plans within six months.
2. Overcoming Delays: The country review process is far behind schedule and delays are understandable given the large number of provisions that must be covered and the differences in legal and political systems. More realistic schedules must be established.
3. Increasing Transparency: At present only executive summaries of country reports are required to be made public. The transparency of the review process would be improved if the full text of country review reports, as well as government self-assessment reports were open.
4. Country Visits: Most governments have agreed to country visits by review teams. This should become standard practice because the alternative of only conducting desk reviews in Vienna is unsatisfactory, both for the review teams and for civil society participation.
5. Improving Civil Society Participation: NGOs should be consulted by review teams during country visits and by governments during the self-assessment process. Increased civil society participation would increase public credibility. Denying observer status is inconsistent with applicable legal rules and deprives such bodies of valuable non-governmental input.
6. Ratification: Germany and Japan have thus far failed to ratify, despite a G20 recommendation that all G20 governments should do so. Transparency International urges both governments without delay.
Transparency International’s UN Convention against Corruption Progress Report 2013 launched today to coincide with the COSP meeting in Panama and looks at how well the UNCAC review process has worked in 60 countries around the world. It contains findings and recommendations on how to improve upon existing measurements of the success of UNCAC in countries that have ratified the convention.
Come and Show Your Solidarity
Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) encourages Malaysians from all walks of life to come forward to show their solidarity in their fight against corruption. TI-M will be organising the Anti-Corruption Walk, in conjunction with the United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day. Themed, “A nation free of corruption begins with you”, will be held on December 7 (Saturday) and participants are invited to meet at the gathering point at Taman Rekreasi Bukit Jalil at 7.30am for registration and after taking a pledge of “Zero Corruption”, the symbolic 1.5km walk will be flagged off. For more details, check out www.transparency.org.my.
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Issued by :
Dato’ Akhbar Satar, President Email : akhbar@transparency.org.my
Transparency International Malaysia Mobile : 017-256 0811
Dr KM Loi, Secretary-General Email : kmloi@transparency.org.my
Transparency International Malaysia Mobile : 012-303 6757
