Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), 8 August 2024 - Progressing initiatives aimed at combating corruption through proactive partnerships between government agencies, civil society and the media, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Mongolia’s Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) are joining forces this week to focus on implementing key anti-corruption initiatives.
From 6 to 7 August in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, the "Strengthening the Key Role of Civil Society and Media to Call Out and Prevent Corruption" workshop took place to underscore the critical role of civil society organizations (CSOs) and the media, and to increase their role in the detection and prevention of corruption.
In his opening remarks, Z. Bagannyam, Chairman of the IAAC’s Department of Anti-Corruption, and Commissioner of the Department of Anti-Corruption, said that the workshop is to determine the activities, and steps to continue to implement the conclusions of the previous March 2024 workshop. He cited the importance of cooperation between public organizations, civil society, and media organizations in the fight against corruption.
"Mongolia is undergoing major reforms to accelerate its anti-corruption activities," said Ms. Megumi Hara, UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer. "Therefore, it is timely to properly recognize the active role of civil society and the media in combating corruption at the national level, and the need to better exchange information, engage in discussions, and make the most of their participation in the national anti-corruption agenda," Ms. Hara stressed.
To increase the role of civil society and the media in the prevention of corruption, the participants determined some key actions, drawing on the recently adopted National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS). These included:
- Progress draft whistleblower legislation through private sector advocacy to the Government and Parliament on its relevance for a healthy private sector;
- Strengthen the capacity of non-State actors by establishing a Mongolian CSO Anti-Corruption Network, learning from similar bodies established in Southeast Asia such as the Southeast Asian Anti-Corruption Networks for CSOs (SEA-ACN), with a key role to feed CSO and public input into IAAC. Participants noted that this would help implement the NACS’s action point 1.5.1: “Establish a framework for interest groups and citizens to participate in and lobby for public policy and decision-making, ensuring their activities are open and transparent;”
- Prioritize youth and school anti-corruption education: Implement NACS action point 9.3 on anti-corruption educational initiatives, “aligning them with international best practices.” Participants also stressed the need to involve parents and caregivers in the education processes to promote integrity and ethics; and
- Information Transparency is a priority – advocacy work is needed and accountability when information officers refuse to provide information as determined by the new Law on Public Information Transparency 2022 legislation. The need for information analysts in agencies to review the quality of information / statistics that are being produced was also identified, along with ensuring guidance to be made available to the public about how to submit specific requests, to avoid rejections.
The workshop was undertaken within UNODC's integrity work under the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Mongolian Law Enforcement Training Project.
Click here to learn more about UNODC’s anti-corruption efforts in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Click here to access UNCAC review documents for Mongolia.