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The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) was adopted by the General Assembly on the 31st October 2003. It entered into force on the 14th December 2005, 90 days after Ecuador became the 30th country to notify the United Nations that it had ratified. UNCAC has so far been signed by 138 nations and ratified by 38.

UNCAC is broad in scope covering public and private as well as domestic and international corruption and aims to:

(a) promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively

(b) promote, facilitate and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including in asset recovery

(c) promote integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property.

MEETINGS OF GOVERNMENTS

The first Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) was held at the Dead Sea, Jordan from the 10th - 14th December 2006 and was attended by around 80 governments.

The second CoSP will be held in Indonesia in January 2008, where governments will make decisions on three key issues: the monitoring system, technical assistance and asset recovery.

CIVIL SOCIETY

The first CoSP was attended by around 100 representatives from non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Civil society participants, including trade unions, worked together as the Coalition of the Civil Society Friends of UNCAC. The Coalition produced a statement noting the crucial role played by civil society in tackling the root causes and consequences of global corruption and calling on governments to honour their commitments in relation to access to information, protection of whistleblowers, monitoring, asset recovery, and technical assistance.

It is absolutely vital that NGOs and trade union representatives from all signatory countries participate in the second 2008 CoSP.

Organisations should register their interest to participate as observers as soon as possible. The contact point is:

Mirella Dummar Frahi, Civil Affairs Officer, Advocacy Section, United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 500, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, telephone +
43-1/26060 5583, fax +43 1 26060 5866, e-mail , website
(www.unodc.org).

To join the Coalition of Civil Society Friends of UNCAC and to find out about preparations for Indonesia, contact:

Gillian Dell, Transparency International: gdell@transparency.org

or

Kirstine Drew: unicorn@againstcorruption.org