Workshop: UNCAC Special Session: The global Realpolitik of UNCAC accountability

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In his introduction to the text of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the words of Kofi Annan, then UN Secretary General, said: ‘The adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption will send a clear message that the international community is determined to prevent and control corruption’. But if the UNCAC is to have success in implementation – beyond sending a message that the international community has agreed on the need to prevent and control corruption — then credible intergovernmental review will be critical and the first review round will be crucial in establishing good precedents. Success in UNCAC implementation and review is an essential component of developing and restoring trust in global anti-
corruption efforts.

The current UNCAC review process is a 5-year cycle covering UNCAC Chapter 3 on Criminalisation and Enforcement; and Chapter 4 on International Cooperation. It follows the Terms of Reference of the Review Mechanism adopted by the Third Conference of States Parties and the Guidelines for governmental experts and the secretariat and blueprint of country report adopted by the Implementation Review Group during its meeting in Vienna on 28 June – 2 July 2010. By the time of the UNCAC Special Session in Bangkok, the countries in the first year of review should have completed and submitted their self-assessment reports on their UNCAC compliance.

This workshop will seek to clarify the background and current status of the UNCAC review process now under way, including a look at available resources and procedural issues still to be resolved. It will look at lessons from other monitoring programmes and will put a spotlight on the critical role of transparency and civil society participation in country reviews. The panellists in this special session will offer important perspectives on the first ever review of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) –they will include speakers from UNODC (the secretariat for UNCAC), from other intergovernmental review bodies, from governments and from civil society.

Moderator: Gladwell Otieno, AfricCOG (NOT YET CONFIRMED)
Rapporteur: Karen Hussmann, independent consultant

Panellists:

Dimitri Vlassis, Chief of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime; Secretary of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption.
Topic: The parameters of the first UNCAC review cycle and how the process is unfolding

Gillian Dell, Programme Manager, Transparency International
Topic: Transparency and civil society participation in the review process as a litmus test of country commitment to UNCAC

Vania Vieira, President of the review process of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, Office of the Comptroller General of Brazil
Topic: Lessons for UNCAC review from the OAS Convention review process

Christoph Speckbacher, GRECO Secretariat (NOT YET CONFIRMED)
Topic: Lessons for UNCAC review from the GRECO review process

Lilian Ekeanyanwu, Nigerian government
Topic: Challenges for reviewed and reviewing governments in the UNCAC review process

John Brandolino, State Department, US Government
Topic: Challenges in the UNCAC review process

Nicolas Dassen, IADB
Topic: Risks for the UNCAC review process; capacity-building and technical assistance needs in the UNCAC review process, for governments and civil society

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