Brasilia, 11 November 2021 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Brazil initiated the first of its activities under the "Global Action for Business Integrity" project, a result of the global partnership between UNODC and Siemens AG. The project is to be implemented over three years (2021-2024) in seven countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.
Validation is done by submitting a survey form to public and private organizations, civil society entities and the academy to identify their points of views, experiences, suggestions and recommendations on corruption and integrity in Brazil.
Global Action for Business Integrity - focuses on preventing and fighting corruption through public-private dialogue, innovative and sustainable solutions in support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to improve governance and compliance standards, and the identification of corruption risks involving youth. The project's overarching objective is to prevent and combat corruption, in cooperation with civil society and academia, through the strengthening of legal frameworks and integrity in the private sector, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption - UNCAC. It is a legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument that also covers the private sector to prevent and criminalize conduct such as bribery, influence peddling, and various acts of corruption.
In addition, the initiative aims to foster the development of a network, at national, regional and global levels, of actors in integrity and anti-corruption, an area in which the UNODC traditionally plays a decisive role in the United Nations system, including as guardian of the UNCAC.
For the project coordinator in Brazil, "this UNODC global initiative will allow for the expantion of technical collaboration with private entities, universities and Brazilian civil society institutions, such as the network formed by the UN Global Compact Brazil and the Council of Collective Actions to Fight Corruption, in the broader context of the efforts already undertaken by UNODC to deepen the best international practices to fight corruption in collaboration with the country's executive, legislative and judiciary powers”.
In addition to national initiatives that address priorities accross the project's seven countries, the project includes a global component aimed at identifying and disseminating best practices related to business integrity, through the development of specialized publications and the delivery of global-level workshops.
