Provided below are the final edited versions of the resolutions and decisions adopted by the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption at its tenth session.
Resolution 10/3 — Follow-up to the Marrakech declaration on the prevention of corruption
Resolution 10/5 — Measures to address corruption involving organized criminal groups
Resolution 10/6 — Enhancing the use of beneficial ownership information to strengthen asset recovery
Resolution 10/8 — Protection of reporting persons
Resolution 10/10 — Addressing the societal impacts of corruption
At its tenth session, the Conference adopted the following resolutions:
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Corruption[1] by the General Assembly, in its resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003, and the opening for signature of the Convention by Member States at the high-level political conference convened for that purpose in Merida, Mexico, from 9 to 11 December 2003,
Recognizing that the twentieth anniversary is a special milestone in the efforts of the international community to prevent and combat corruption,
Commending the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in supporting States parties’ implementation of the Convention, including by facilitating international cooperation in this regard,
Reiterating its concern about the negative impact of widespread corruption on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Reaffirming the importance that States uphold the purposes and principles set forth in the Charter of the United Nations and the fundamental principles of international law, as well as the Convention, including respect for the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, in the fight against corruption,
Acknowledging the efforts and achievements of States parties over the past 20 years in preventing and combating corruption,
Reaffirming the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”,[2] which was approved by the Conference of the States Parties at its special session held on 7 May 2021 and adopted by the General Assembly on 2 June 2021 at its special session against corruption, and in which Member States reaffirmed their common commitment to ending impunity for corruption offences,
Bearing in mind that the effective implementation of chapters III, IV and V of the Convention contributes to the efforts of States parties to hold persons who commit corruption offences accountable, thereby contributing to the effective prevention of corruption,
Stressing the importance of sustained political will to prevent and combat corruption,
Reaffirming that integrity, transparency and accountability are necessary for States to be responsive to the needs and interests of the public, and concerned that corruption erodes public institutions and processes while also undermining trust in public institutions,
Bearing in mind the important role of e-government and the increasing use of information and communications technology tools by States parties in the conduct of public administration as a means to promote accountability and transparency in the fight against corruption,
Emphasizing that States have the primary responsibility to prevent and combat corruption, thereby promoting accountability, including by enabling bodies with anti-corruption and oversight responsibilities to carry out their functions effectively and free from undue influence, with integrity and accountability, while respecting, protecting and supporting the role of individuals and groups outside the public sector in the prevention of and fight against corruption, in accordance with article 13 of the Convention,
Noting with appreciation the important role that individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, academia, the private sector and the media, play in preventing and detecting corruption, thereby promoting accountability, including by identifying, detecting and reporting corruption, as well as by collaborating with States parties on anti-corruption efforts such as increasing transparency, awareness-raising, education and training,
Highlighting the importance for States parties to consider, in appropriate cases, the impact of corruption offences on victims in their measures to prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption offences and further consider the participation and protection of victims in their domestic efforts to combat corruption, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law,
Highlighting also the importance of respecting, promoting and protecting the freedom to seek, receive, disseminate and publish information concerning corruption and of ensuring that the public has effective access to information, while noting that such freedom may be subject to certain restrictions, but that these shall only be such as are provided for by law and are necessary for respect of the rights or reputation of others and for the protection of national security, ordre public or public health or morals,
Convinced of the importance of providing timely, adequate, effective and, where possible, long-term, sustainable technical assistance, upon request, for the implementation of the Convention, including through targeted capacity-building for States parties’ institutions involved in the implementation of anti-corruption measures,
Noting with appreciation efforts by the private sector to promote integrity, transparency and accountability within its own ranks by developing, strengthening and promoting anti-corruption measures to safeguard business integrity and promote transparency,
1. Celebrates two decades of the United Nations Convention against Corruption serving as the most comprehensive, legally binding and universal instrument against corruption, and renews its call for all States that have not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Convention;
2. Reiterates the importance of achieving the purposes of the Convention, in particular promoting integrity, accountability and the proper management of public affairs and public property, and further reiterates the importance of efforts by States parties to promote accountability through the effective implementation of the Convention;
3. Also reiterates the obligations of States parties set forth in the Convention, and calls upon States parties to ensure the full and effective implementation of those obligations, including by putting in place the necessary measures, including legislative and administrative measures in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, pursuant to article 65 of the Convention;
4. Reaffirms the importance of the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in accelerating progress in the implementation of the Convention, and encourages States parties to complete their respective reviews in a timely manner, to follow up on the conclusions and observations from the review process and to consider publishing, on a voluntary basis, those conclusions and observations themselves;
5. Calls upon States parties to promote accountability, integrity and transparency by taking measures, in accordance with the Convention and their domestic law, to redouble their efforts with a view to holding liable any legal or natural person subject to their jurisdiction who perpetrates an act of corruption and to strengthen international cooperation in this regard;
6. Urges States parties to provide each other with the widest measure of mutual legal assistance in investigations, prosecutions and judicial proceedings in relation to the offences covered in the Convention and in the recovery and return of proceeds of crime, and invites them to consider using informal channels that facilitate the sharing of information between anti-corruption law enforcement authorities through practitioner-based networks such as, inter alia, the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities, the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and relevant regional networks, where the information could promote the formulation of a mutual legal assistance request, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law;
7. Also urges States parties to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement authorities, judicial and prosecution services and other competent authorities for the successful investigation, prosecution and adjudication of corruption and corruption-related offences, including offences involving illicit financial flows derived from the proceeds of crime, by allocating sufficient resources, within their means, as well as providing adequate and effective capacity-building and training, including through cooperation among States and relevant organizations, for anti-corruption authorities and criminal justice institutions, including judicial and prosecution services, to effectively investigate and prosecute those offences, without prejudice to the independence of the authorities and institutions involved in the fight against corruption, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law;
8. Reiterates that the active participation of society is integral to complementing States’ efforts in the prevention of and fight against corruption and promoting transparency, integrity and accountability, and urges States parties to put in place and effectively implement policies and practices, within their means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, that allow individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental and community-based organizations, the private sector, academia and the media, to be able to contribute in this regard, thereby also promoting accountability, including through the full and effective implementation of article 13 of the Convention;
9. Calls upon States parties to effectively implement measures to promote public sector transparency, integrity and accountability, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, including codes or standards of conduct for public officials and appropriate disciplinary or other measures against officials who violate the codes or standards, measures to ensure effective public access to information, measures to promote integrity, transparency and accountability in the management of public funds, and systems and measures for the protection of reporting persons in accordance with article 33 of the Convention;
10. Underlines the importance of taking measures, as outlined in article 12 of the Convention and in accordance with the fundamental principles of States parties’ domestic law, to promote integrity and accountability in the private sector, including, inter alia, those that enhance accounting and auditing standards in the private sector and, where appropriate, provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal penalties for failure to comply with such measures in accordance with the Convention, and to promote cooperation between law enforcement agencies and relevant private entities;
11. Recognizes that asset recovery is one of the main purposes of the Convention, and calls upon States parties to further improve the implementation of the measures available under the Convention for asset recovery and return, including through effective, efficient and responsive international cooperation;
12. Also recognizes the fundamental role of effective international cooperation, and to this end underlines the importance of addressing, tackling and effectively responding to international challenges and barriers, in particular measures, that hinder such cooperation, and which are not consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and obligations under international law, and in this regard urges States parties, consistent with their international obligations, to refrain from applying such measures;
13. Calls upon States parties to make efforts so that the conditions are present for the effective contribution of individuals and groups outside the public sector, including civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, the private sector, academia and the media, to achieving the objectives of the Convention, including the ability to operate independently and without fear of reprisal because of their efforts in preventing and combating corruption in that regard, in accordance with domestic law and the respective applicable international obligations, and to promote the engagement of youth in the prevention and fight against corruption through awareness-raising and other involvement in anti-corruption initiatives;
14. Reaffirms the mandate of the Conference, as set forth in article 63 of the Convention, which includes cooperating with relevant international and regional organizations and mechanisms and non-governmental organizations to achieve the objectives of the Convention, as well as its resolution 4/6 of 28 October 2011, and requests the secretariat to continue to hold informal briefings, in line with resolution 4/6, on the margins of the sessions of the Implementation Review Group, on the outcomes of the review process, including on any technical assistance needs identified, in cooperation with a member of the Bureau of the Conference at the request of the President of the Conference, to further promote constructive dialogue with non-governmental organizations dealing with anti-corruption issues;
15. Encourages States parties to continue to afford one another, according to their capacity, the widest measure of technical assistance, especially for the benefit of developing countries, including in the form of material support, capacity-building and training, upon request, consistent with chapter VI of the Convention;
16. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as the lead entity in the United Nations system on countering corruption, to continue coordination and cooperation across the United Nations system to support the efforts of the States parties to measure corruption;
17. Requests the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to include as a topic for discussion on the agenda the participation of society in preventing and fighting corruption, as set out in article 13 of the Convention, for either its fifteenth or sixteenth meeting;
18. Requests the secretariat to report to the Conference of the States Parties at its eleventh session on progress made and challenges encountered in implementing the present resolution;
19. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes specified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Recalling its resolution 7/7 of 10 November 2017, entitled “Strengthening the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in small island developing States”, and recalling with appreciation the related report of the Secretariat,[3]
Recalling also its resolution 8/11 of 20 December 2019, entitled “Strengthening the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in small island developing States”,
Recalling further the political declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption, held in June 2021,[4]
Recognizing that progress towards and aspirations for peaceful, harmonious and prosperous small island developing States can be realized with the promotion of good governance practices,
Emphasizing that efforts by States parties to implement the United Nations Convention against Corruption[5] are mutually reinforcing and contribute to their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, and recalling all of its Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 16, which is to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels,
Recalling General Assembly resolution 77/235 of 15 December 2022, concerned about the negative impact that all forms of corruption can have on access to basic services and the enjoyment of all human rights, and recognizing that corruption can exacerbate poverty and inequality and may disproportionately affect the most disadvantaged individuals in society,
Highlighting that the fight against corruption and the promotion of good governance should be priorities for the international community, including small island developing States,
Recognizing that small island developing States have specific contextual and cultural characteristics and a narrow resource base that necessitate affordable and sustainable good governance practices, as well as tailored technical assistance,
Welcoming the progress made by small island developing States in implementing the Convention, while recognizing that greater efforts must still be made to achieve the effective implementation thereof,
Noting that, while the implementation of the Convention is the responsibility of States parties, promoting integrity, transparency and accountability and preventing corruption are responsibilities to be shared by all sectors of society involved in the fight against corruption, as corruption not only affects Governments but can also have a significant negative impact on the private sector and civil society by impeding economic growth, harming consumers and businesses, distorting competition and presenting serious health, safety, legal and social risks, and underlining the necessity of increasing the efforts of States parties in this regard,
Highlighting the need to improve anti-corruption frameworks, strengthen governance systems in ocean and land resources management in order to protect the environment and livelihoods of the people of small island developing States, enhance and build the inclusive resilience of those States to the impacts of climate change and natural disasters and further the transition to a more sustainable development path,
Recalling the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway,[6] the outcome document of the third International Conference on Small Island Developing States, held in Apia from 1 to 4 September 2014, which is of significance to small island developing States,
Acknowledging the upcoming fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States, to be held in Antigua and Barbuda from 27 to 30 May 2024, and noting that its overarching theme will be “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity”,
Recalling the Boe Declaration on Regional Security, adopted by the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in 2018 in relation to the Pacific, in the context of the Framework for Pacific Regionalism of 2014 and the “Blue Pacific” narrative,
Acknowledging the regional anti-corruption road map known as the Teieniwa Vision, adopted by the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in 2021 as an official regional commitment to achieve Pacific unity against corruption and to build Pacific responses to corruption,
Recognizing the important role of regional and international partnerships and the relevance of collaborative learning among small island developing States,
1. Welcomes the accession to the United Nations Convention against Corruption by Suriname in November 2021, and urges small island developing States that have not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Convention;
2. Calls upon small island developing States parties to the Convention to enhance their active participation in the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and to make every effort to implement the recommendations arising from the reviews carried out under the Mechanism;
3. Urges States parties and interested donors, including development partners, to support small island developing States in their efforts to implement the Convention, including those aspects that will contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 16 and of the priorities and reforms identified, including those set out in the Teieniwa Vision, through the provision of technical assistance at the bilateral, regional and international levels, including by addressing needs identified through the Implementation Review Mechanism or progress reports communicated through various regional platforms;
4. Urges States parties and interested donors with relevant expertise applicable to the contexts of small island developing States to share their best practices and lessons learned with small island developing States, upon request, through existing and future bilateral, regional and international cooperation mechanisms;
5. Encourages small island developing States to consider establishing and developing, where appropriate, in line with article 33 of the Convention, confidential, safe and secure reporting systems, effective right-to-information mechanisms, protection programmes for reporting persons, including protected reporting systems, and effective witness protection measures, and to increase the awareness and accessibility of such measures;
6. Also encourages small island developing States to make use of opportunities for cooperation and peer learning through existing practitioner-based networks and to further share with one another information, research, best practices and lessons learned specific to those States on the implementation of the Convention;
7. Urges small island developing States to strengthen and effectively implement anti-corruption frameworks as part of the steps taken to enhance good governance and the rule of law in the area of ocean and land resources management, including in climate change adaptation and mitigation activities, with the aim of enhancing and building inclusive resilience to the impacts of climate change and natural disasters in those States, with the support of the international community and relevant United Nations entities and regional bodies;
8. Also urges small island developing States to promote, within their means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, the participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, the private sector, young people and the media, in the prevention of and fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threats posed by corruption;
9. Encourages small island developing States to engage in a whole-of-society approach to preventing and combating corruption, including through broad and inclusive participation in the development and implementation of national anti-corruption strategies and policies, including through legislation;
10. Urges small island developing States to promote the implementation of the Convention at the regional level, including through greater collaboration and regional mechanisms;
11. Requests the secretariat to submit to the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption a report on the progress made and the challenges encountered in the implementation of the present resolution;
12. Recognizes the progress made and challenges faced in the implementation of Conference resolutions 7/7 and 8/11, and urges States parties to continue to support technical assistance efforts focused on the needs and priorities of small island developing States, including assistance with the ratification of or accession to the Convention, and on meeting the legislative and other technical requirements to implement the Convention effectively, upon request, and with the assistance of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other technical assistance providers;
13. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes identified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Concerned about the seriousness of the problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, which undermine the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardize sustainable development and the rule of law,
Highlighting the importance of the United Nations Convention against Corruption[7] and the prominence it has given to the prevention of corruption as part of a comprehensive approach to fighting corruption by devoting the entirety of its chapter II to measures to prevent corruption,
Recalling the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”,[8] adopted on 2 June 2021 by the General Assembly at its special session on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation, in which Member States recognized the need and reaffirmed their responsibility to take urgent action to prevent corruption from occurring by putting in place preventive measures, policies and practices as outlined in chapter II (Preventive measures) of the Convention and promoting transparency, accountability, integrity and a culture of rejection of corruption at all levels of society as a basis for preventing corruption and ending impunity,
Recognizing the importance of the prevention of corruption for the broader development agenda, including the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 16 and other relevant goals of Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[9] and other initiatives aimed at strengthening the coordination and exchange of such information with development partners,
Acknowledging that preventing and combating corruption at all levels and in all its forms is a priority and responsibility of all Member States and thus requires strong political will, the participation of society, strong, fair, effective, impartial, accountable and transparent institutions, comprehensive and balanced anti-corruption frameworks and approaches at all levels and committed enforcement by all jurisdictions in accordance with national legislative systems, as well as prevention, anti-corruption education, training and effective international cooperation, including, where appropriate, in asset recovery,
Stressing that preventive measures are one of the most effective means of countering corruption, and recalling in this regard the commitment to prevent and combat corruption in a manner consistent with the obligations of Member States with regard to and with respect for all human rights, justice, democracy and the rule of law at all levels,
Reaffirming its resolution 6/1 of 6 November 2015, in which it launched the second cycle of the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which included the review of chapter II (Preventive measures), and underlining, in view of the ongoing review of the implementation of chapter II of the Convention during the second cycle of the Implementation Review Mechanism, the importance of building legislative and institutional frameworks and capacities consistent with the requirements of that chapter,
Recalling its resolution 6/7 of 6 November 2015 on promoting the use of information and communications technologies for the implementation of the Convention, and noting the growing importance of using such tools to prevent and combat corrupt practices, to inform appropriate response measures and to share and disclose information, in accordance with the Convention and the domestic law of States parties,
Recalling also the progress made by States parties and the secretariat in the implementation of resolution 9/3 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Follow-up to the Abu Dhabi declaration on enhancing collaboration between the supreme audit institutions and anti-corruption bodies to more effectively prevent and fight corruption, and the use of information and communications technologies”, in which the Conference recalled the key role played by the supreme audit institutions in the prevention of and fight against corruption, in particular with regard to promoting integrity, accountability, transparency and the proper management of public affairs and public property, as well as the efficient use of public resources, and underlining the need to maintain efforts in that regard, including during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery,
Recalling further its resolution 9/8 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Promoting anti-corruption education, awareness-raising and training”, in which it requested States parties to further strengthen their efforts to support anti-corruption education and raise public awareness of corruption and its negative impact on society through education programmes involving all relevant stakeholders, and acknowledging the progress made by States parties in this regard,
Highlighting the importance of strengthening and improving anti-corruption policies by, inter alia, periodically assessing and analysing the efficiency of the preventive measures and by identifying and promoting good practices, as well as identifying challenges therein,
Acknowledging the crucial importance of technical assistance, in particular for developing countries, in strengthening structural, institutional and human capacity and thereby facilitating implementation of the provisions of chapter II of the Convention,
Taking note of the comprehensive statistical framework for the measurement of corruption developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as encouraged by Member States in the political declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption of 2021, to support States in their efforts to measure corruption,
Recalling its resolutions 7/8 of 10 November 2017, entitled “Corruption in sport”, and 8/4 of 20 December 2019, entitled “Safeguarding sport from corruption”, in which the Conference recognized the importance of preventing and countering corruption in sport,
Reaffirming the importance of preventing and countering corruption in sport for States parties, as well as relevant sport-related organizations, federations and associations, welcoming the conferences on safeguarding sport from corruption held in Vienna in June 2018 and September 2019, and noting with appreciation the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in particular the development of the publication entitled Global Report on Corruption in Sport,
1. Welcomes the wide-scale ratification of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, encourages all States parties to promote its universal adherence, and urges all States that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the Convention as soon as possible;
2. Calls upon States parties to continue and to reinforce the effective implementation of the preventive measures outlined in chapter II of the Convention, including by addressing the recommendations emanating from the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and in the resolutions of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption;
3. Welcomes the progress made by States parties and the secretariat in the implementation of Conference resolutions 5/4 of 29 November 2013, 6/6 of 6 November 2015, 7/6 of 10 November 2017, 8/8 of 20 December 2019 and 9/6 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Follow-up to the Marrakech declaration on the prevention of corruption”, and underlines the need for States parties to maintain and reinforce efforts in that regard by encouraging participation in and the organization of outreach conferences, seminars and workshops, including at the regional level, to promote the effective implementation of the preventive measures against corruption, as outlined in chapter II of the Convention;
4. Also welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to facilitate the sharing of information between States parties on their initiatives and good practices, underlines the importance of the conclusions and recommendations of the Working Group, and encourages States parties to implement them as appropriate;
5. Acknowledges that the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption should continue its work to advise and assist the Conference in the implementation of its mandate on the prevention of corruption and should hold at least two meetings prior to the eleventh session of the Conference;
6. Encourages States parties to continue to take measures to identify and promote, as applicable, synergies between preventive and law enforcement approaches to corruption, encourages States parties to share, on a voluntary basis, information on good practices, lessons learned and challenges in identifying interlinkages and promoting synergies between preventive and law enforcement approaches to corruption, and requests the secretariat to continue its efforts to gather, systematize and disseminate information in this regard;
7. Calls upon States parties, in line with article 5 of the Convention, to establish and promote effective practices aimed at the prevention of corruption and to periodically evaluate relevant legal instruments and administrative measures with a view to determining their adequacy for effectively preventing and fighting corruption;
8. Encourages States parties to strengthen, where appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, anti-corruption policies and strategies, with a view to enhancing coordination between all national stakeholders involved in the fight against corruption, by taking advantage of good practices and lessons learned and by implementing recommendations emanating from the Implementation Review Mechanism, in order to effectively prevent and combat corruption and address emerging challenges in the fight against corruption, including new forms of economic and financial crime in relation to corruption and the linkages between corruption and other forms of transnational crime;
9. Welcomes the efforts and progress made by States parties to promote awareness-raising, education, training and research in the area of anti-corruption, and encourages States parties to continue to voluntarily provide to the secretariat information on challenges and good practices in anti-corruption awareness-raising, education, training and research, and to continue and enhance the sharing of knowledge;
10. Also welcomes the launch by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in December 2021, of the Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment initiative, which is designed to further promote the role of education and youth in preventing and countering corruption, encourages States parties to further support this initiative through the development of education programmes, including school and university curricula, and requests the Office, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to continue to support the efforts of States parties to implement the provisions of the Convention through the development of educational material and the delivery of activities to improve initiatives focused on education;
11. Acknowledges the organization by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the International Anti-Corruption Academy and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, of the Global Conference on Harnessing Data to Improve Corruption Measurement, held in Vienna on 31 August and 1 September 2023, which produced the Vienna Principles towards a Global Framework for the Measurement of Corruption;
12. Invites States parties to consider using, where appropriate, the comprehensive statistical framework, developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in close consultation with States parties, to measure corruption, and to provide, on a voluntary basis, feedback and information to the Office on the use and effectiveness of, as well as possible ways to improve, the framework;
13. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources,toprovidecapacity-building and technical assistance on the use of the statistical framework to States parties, upon request and on the basis of their needs and priorities;
14. Encourages States parties to implement measures and policies as necessary and in accordance with their domestic law to further support the role of supreme audit institutions in preventing and combating corruption, and requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue its efforts to gather and disseminate information, in close consultation with States parties, on good practices related to the management of public finances, and to provide States parties with technical assistance and capacity-building, upon request and on the basis of their needs and priorities, to support the implementation of the Convention;
15. Requests the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to consider including, as a topic for discussion at its fifteenth meeting, to be held in 2024, the negative effects of corruption on women and youth and the role played by women and youth in preventing and combating corruption;
16. Welcomes the commitment made and efforts undertaken by States parties to provide information on good practices in preventing corruption that is gathered, systematized and disseminated by the secretariat in the performance of its functions as an international observatory, encourages States parties to continue sharing information on a voluntary basis, and requests the secretariat, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to continue its work as an international observatory, including by updating the thematic website of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption and the Tools and the Resources for Anti-Corruption Knowledge portal with relevant information;
17. Commends the secretariat for its important and continuous work, in accordance with article 64 of the Convention, on the preparation of thematic reports on the implementation of chapter II of the Convention, as well as supplementary regional addenda, and requests the secretariat to share those reports with the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption;
18. Recalls the Jakarta Statement on Principles for Anti-Corruption Agencies, developed by the International Conference on Principles for Anti-Corruption Agencies, held in Jakarta on 26 and 27 November 2012, and recalls that article 6 of the Convention states, inter alia, that each State party shall, in accordance with the fundamental principles of its legal system, ensure the existence of a body or bodies, as appropriate, that prevent corruption, grant the anti-corruption body or bodies the necessary independence to enable them to carry out its or their functions effectively and free from any undue influence and should provide the necessary material resources and specialized staff, as well as the training that such staff may require to carry out their functions;
19. Calls upon States parties to preserve, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, the independence of supreme audit institutions and other oversight bodies, in accordance with their domestic law, to enable them to carry out their functions effectively and free from any undue influence, to implement policies for the effective operation of the institutions and to ensure that the findings and recommendations contained in the reports of these institutions and bodies are adequately addressed, including through corrective action where feasible;
20. Also calls upon States parties to enable effective cooperation at the domestic level among, as appropriate, anti-corruption authorities, police, investigative, prosecutorial and judicial authorities, financial intelligence units, and administrative and oversight bodies, in particular supreme audit institutions, in corruption investigations and proceedings at the national level, in accordance with domestic legal systems;
21. Further calls upon States parties to take measures to enhance integrity, transparency, accountability and the rule of law in public administration, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, including through the promotion of effective public service delivery, the use of information and communications technologies and the establishment of measures and systems to facilitate the reporting of incidents that may be considered to constitute offences established in accordance with the Convention;
22. Encourages States parties to promote the integrity and accountability of their criminal justice systems while respecting the independence of the judiciary, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, and welcomes the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in this regard;
23. Calls upon States parties to strengthen measures to prevent corruption in the public procurement process and the management of public finances, as well as to ensure adequate access to information, and to promote, as appropriate, the involvement of the private sector in the prevention of corruption;
24. Encourages States parties, where appropriate, to include anti-corruption provisions in contracts and, when awarding public procurement contracts, to take into account whether natural or legal persons have been determined to have committed acts of corruption and any mitigating factors, as appropriate, and to consider establishing appropriate registries, in accordance with domestic law, while respecting the protection of personal data and privacy rights;
25. Calls upon States parties to use the Convention as a framework for the development of tailored anti-corruption safeguards, including in sectors that may have a greater vulnerability to corruption, and requests the secretariat to assist States parties in doing so, upon request and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources;
26. Encourages States parties, in line with article 9, paragraph 2, of the Convention, where appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to incorporate and implement corruption risk management processes, in particular in public institutions and other institutions entrusted with the management of public finances, and requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to support States parties, upon request and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, in this regard;
27. Calls upon States parties to take effective measures at the domestic level to prevent, investigate and prosecute acts of corruption and related offences involving members of national parliaments at all levels, in accordance with the Convention, while taking into account questions of privileges and immunities, as well as of jurisdiction, as appropriate, with a view to promoting the highest ethical standards as an essential element for maintaining public trust, to strengthen interparliamentary dialogue and cooperation, including in coordination with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and similar organizations, as appropriate, to promote the exchange of good practices relating to legislation, review and oversight controls in the fight against corruption and to consider implementing those good practices in domestic law;
28. Urges States parties to take the necessary measures, including legislative and administrative measures, to prevent the bribery of foreign public officials and officials of public international organizations, embezzlement, money-laundering and obstruction of justice by implementing their relevant obligations under articles 15, 16, 17, 23, 25 and 27, paragraph 1, of the Convention, and invites States parties to consider adopting measures, subject to their constitutions and the fundamental principles of their legal systems, and as may be necessary, to criminalize trading in influence, the abuse of functions and illicit enrichment, that is, a significant increase in the assets of a public official that he or she cannot reasonably explain in relation to his or her lawful incomes, bribery and embezzlement in the private sector and concealment, drawing on the observations and best practices emanating from the Implementation Review Mechanism and, to the degree possible, to go beyond the minimum and adopt additional measures for preventing and combating corruption;
29. Reiterates the importance of efforts by States parties to implement, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic legal systems, the measures outlined in article 12 of the Convention, which are designed to prevent, detect and combat corruption involving the private sector by, inter alia, promoting the development of standards and procedures designed to safeguard business integrity, including codes of conduct and by promoting transparency and the use of good commercial practices among businesses and in the contractual relations of businesses with States;
30. Encourages States parties, with the assistance of the secretariat and in collaboration with relevant regional and international organizations, where appropriate, to continue strengthening public-private partnerships in the prevention of and the fight against corruption by, inter alia, facilitating the adoption of domestic legislation or regulations implementing article 12 of the Convention, where appropriate and necessary, organizing opportunities for the exchange of relevant experience and good practices in this field and raising awareness of the principles of the Convention within the private sector;
31. Calls upon States parties to promote, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, the adoption, maintenance and strengthening of systems that promote transparency and prevent conflicts of interest and, where appropriate, to make use of innovative and digital instruments in this field;
32. Welcomes the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on judicial integrity and education, and requests the Office to continue, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources and in close consultation with States parties, its efforts to promote education on the rule of law, anti-corruption and crime prevention and criminal justice in collaboration with relevant stakeholders;
33. Encourages States parties to enhance their efforts to prevent and counter corruption in sport and, in this regard, stresses the importance of robust legislative and law enforcement measures, notes with appreciation the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Programme on Safeguarding Sport from Corruption and Economic Crime, and urges States parties to consider supporting relevant programmes, projects, task forces, expert groups and existing initiatives at the national, regional and international levels that contribute to the prevention of corruption in sport and promote and enhance cooperation and good practices among law enforcement and criminal justice authorities and corruption prevention authorities, lawmakers, policymakers and sports organizations, in accordance with domestic law;
34. Invites States parties to take advantage of capacity-building and training programmes provided by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other relevant international organizations and institutions, such as the International Anti-Corruption Academy, to increase public awareness, integrity and knowledge in relation to preventing and combating corruption;
35. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to provide and develop capacity-building initiatives, including new knowledge products, guidance notes on implementation of chapter II of the Convention and technical tools, upon request and subject to extrabudgetary resources, on measures to prevent corruption, identify comparative good practices and facilitate the exchange of expertise and lessons learned among States parties;
36. Encourages States parties to take measures, within their means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, the private sector, academia, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations, in the prevention of and fight against corruption, and to take into consideration, inter alia, the important role of the media in raising public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption;
37. Requests the secretariat to continue, in close cooperation with multilateral and bilateral assistance providers, to provide technical assistance to States parties, in particular developing countries, upon request and subject to extrabudgetary resources, with a view to advancing the implementation of chapter II of the Convention, including in the form of tailored assistance for participation in the process for the review of implementation of chapter II of the Convention;
38. Underlines the importance of providing the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime with sufficient and adequate funding to be able to respond to the increasing demand for its services, and encourages Member States to make adequate voluntary contributions to the account referred to in article 62 of the Convention, operated within the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Fund, for the provision to developing countries and countries with economies in transition of the technical assistance that they may require to improve their capacities to implement chapter II of the Convention;
39. Requests the secretariat to report on the implementation of the present resolution to the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption at its fifteenth and sixteenth meetings and to the Conference at its eleventh session;
40. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes identified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Reiterating its concern about the seriousness of the problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law,
Emphasizing that measuring corruption is a complex and multidimensional task that requires States parties to take a nationally owned and comprehensive approach, respecting the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, as enshrined in article 4 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption,[10]
Reaffirming its encouragement to States parties to consider working with other relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, academia and civil society, in the development of methodologies and indicators to measure corruption, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law,
Acknowledging the holding of the Global Conference on Harnessing Data to Improve Corruption Measurement, held in Vienna on 31 August and 1 September 2023, which served as a platform for experts in the field of measuring corruption to engage in comprehensive discussions focused on the diverse experiences and challenges associated with the task,
Taking note of the Vienna Principles towards a Global Framework for the Measurement of Corruption, developed at the Global Conference on Harnessing Data to Improve Corruption Measurement and aimed at guiding future initiatives in the development and implementation of corruption measurement frameworks and methodologies to achieve greater accuracy, reliability and usefulness, which may lead to more effective anti-corruption strategies and policies,
Noting with appreciation the progress made by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Development Programme and other relevant international and regional organizations in developing evidence-based and multifaceted actions to measure corruption, without duplicating existing efforts, and to provide technical assistance, upon request, to countries intending to conduct surveys and studies on corruption risks, trends and prevalence,
Recalling article 5 of the Convention, under which States parties are required to endeavour to periodically evaluate relevant legal instruments and administrative measures with a view to determining their adequacy to prevent and fight corruption, and, as appropriate and in accordance with their legal systems, to collaborate with each other and with relevant international and regional organizations in promoting and developing measures aimed at preventing corruption, including by participating in international programmes and projects,
Re-emphasizing the importance of article 61 of the Convention, in which it is stated that States parties shall consider analysing, in consultation with experts, trends in corruption in their respective territories, as well as the circumstances in which corruption offences are committed, developing and sharing with each other and through international and regional organizations statistics, analytical expertise concerning corruption and information with a view to developing, insofar as possible, common definitions, standards and methodologies, as well as information on best practices to prevent and combat corruption, and monitoring policies and actual measures to combat corruption and making assessments of their effectiveness and efficiency,
Reaffirming article 63, paragraph 4 (b), of the Convention, in which it is stated that the Conference of the States Parties shall agree upon activities, procedures and methods of work to achieve its objectives, including facilitating the exchange of information among States parties on patterns and trends in corruption and on successful practices for preventing and combating it and for the return of proceeds of crime,
Recalling article 63, paragraph 5, of the Convention, in which it is stated that the Conference of the States Parties shall acquire the necessary knowledge of the measures taken by States parties in implementing the Convention and the difficulties encountered by them in doing so through information provided by them and through the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Reaffirming its resolution 8/7 of 20 December 2019, in which it encouraged States parties to give adequate consideration and resources to enhance the effectiveness of their national anti-corruption agencies and agencies with anti-corruption responsibilities, consistent with article 6 of the Convention, in order to meet the emerging challenges in preventing and combating different forms of corruption,
Recalling paragraph 1 of its resolution 8/10 of 20 December 2019, in which it requested the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in coordination with the Statistical Commission and in close cooperation and consultation with States parties, to continue expert-level consultations on identifying and refining methodologies on the issue of the measurement of corruption in order to develop proposals on a comprehensive, scientifically sound and objective framework for the purpose of assisting States parties, upon their request, in measuring corruption, consistent with the Convention, and also requested the Office to report thereon to the Conference of the States Parties for its consideration,
Recalling also paragraph 3 of its resolution 8/10, in which it called upon States parties to consider establishing and managing, in accordance with domestic law, repositories of crime and criminal justice data on corruption in accordance with the Convention, covering investigations, prosecutions, convictions and non-trial resolutions, including on transnational cases, pertaining to the liability of both legal and natural persons, and to make such information publicly available for little or no cost on a recurring basis,
Recalling further paragraph 13 of its resolution 9/8 of 17 December 2021, in which it invited States parties and other relevant stakeholders to provide support to specialized initiatives aimed at facilitating research and connecting scholars and academic and research institutions to promote greater collaboration and sharing of resources and ideas, as well as to implement joint global and regional interdisciplinary research projects, including on compliance and collective action,
Recalling paragraph 19 of its resolution 9/8, in which it encouraged relevant institutions engaged in anti-corruption activities, such as the United Nations Development Programme and the International Anti-Corruption Academy, to closely cooperate with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and each other to exchange knowledge and develop cutting-edge educational and training programmes and innovative research projects,
Recalling also General Assembly resolution S-32/1 of 2 June 2021, by which the Assembly adopted the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”, in which States underscored that the anti-corruption work of the United Nations should be strongly linked to and coordinated with measures and programmes contributing to strengthening the rule of law at the national and international levels, and invited the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue coordination and cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme to foster anti-corruption measures enabling the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,[11]
1. Acknowledges the Vienna Principles towards a Global Framework for the Measurement of Corruption as the outcome of the Global Conference on Harnessing Data to Improve Corruption Measurement, and invites States parties, within their means and in accordance with their domestic law, to consider promoting the Principles, as appropriate, including when developing measurement methodologies and indicators to complement national efforts to measure corruption risks, trends and prevalence, and when assessing the effectiveness of their policies and actual measures to combat corruption;
2. Takes note with appreciation of the statistical framework for measuring corruption prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in consultation with Member States and national and international stakeholders, and welcomed by the Statistical Commission as a statistically robust framework, and invites the Office to support States parties, upon request, in utilizing the framework as a tool to measure different aspects of corruption in a manner that does not interfere with ongoing corruption investigations, as appropriate and in accordance with domestic law;
3. Invites States parties to consider establishing and/or maintaining monitoring and evaluation systems which may yield the amounts of policy-relevant data necessary to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively;
4. Encourages States parties, in accordance with domestic law, as appropriate, to consider utilizing objective methodologies and indicators developed in consultation with national experts and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and/or through broad cooperation across the United Nations system, to measure corruption risks within their respective territories and assess the effectiveness of policies and actual measures to combat corruption, and to consider taking advantage of methodologies and indicators for assessing and evaluating areas where evidence suggests the greatest risks of corruption, as outlined in the Vienna Principles towards a Global Framework for the Measurement of Corruption;
5. Also encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to consider voluntarily sharing good practices, knowledge and information on ways of effectively and efficiently addressing corruption risks and trends;
6. Invites States parties, within their means and in accordance with their domestic law, to consider establishing and/or maintaining repositories of relevant data on corruption cases and anti-corruption efforts, to be used within the voluntarily utilized methodologies and indicators for measuring corruption risks, trends and prevalence, as well as for assessing the effectiveness of their policies and actual measures to combat corruption, while protecting ongoing corruption investigations and respecting confidentiality;
7. Welcomes the inclusion of the measurement of corruption as a topic for discussion at the fifteenth meeting of the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption, to be held in 2024, with a view to sharing experiences regarding the development and implementation of innovative national and international measures to prevent corruption, including good practices, lessons learned and challenges in measuring corruption;
8. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to collect data and act as a repository for the development of non-binding guidelines to assist States parties, upon request and on the basis of their needs and priorities, in utilizing various methodologies and indicators for measuring corruption risks, trends and prevalence, as well as for assessing the effectiveness of their policies and actual measures to combat corruption;
9. Encourages relevant institutions engaged in anti-corruption activities, such as the United Nations Development Programme and the International Anti-Corruption Academy, to continue closely cooperating with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and, in consultation with the States parties, to exchange knowledge in order to develop innovative research projects aimed at elaborating methodologies and indicators, including through using modern technologies, to assist States parties in more efficiently measuring corruption risks, trends and prevalence, as well as assessing the effectiveness of their policies and actual measures to combat corruption;
10. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, within existing resources, to collect information provided by States parties on a voluntary basis and to report on the progress made and the challenges encountered in the implementation of the present resolution to the Conference at its future sessions and to its relevant subsidiary bodies;
11. Also requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration among Member States and relevant stakeholders in the development, refinement and utilization of corruption measurement frameworks and methodologies, including through regional and international workshops, seminars and conferences;
12. Further requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to provide, upon request and on the basis of the needs and priorities of States parties, technical assistance and knowledge tools through its platforms, including through the Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment initiative, as well as capacity-building programmes to support research into corruption measurement, in particular in developing countries;
13. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes identified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Concerned about the seriousness of the problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law,
Reaffirming the need for the fully effective implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption,[12] as the most comprehensive legally binding universal instrument to prevent and combat corruption, and emphasizing the contribution of its subsidiary bodies in this regard,
Deeply concerned by the negative economic and social implications related to organized criminal activities, and convinced of the urgent need to strengthen cooperation to prevent and combat such activities more effectively at the national, regional and international levels,
Concerned about the links between corruption and other forms of crime, in particular organized crime and economic crime, including money-laundering, as recognized in the Convention and recalled in the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”[13] and in its resolution 9/1 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Sharm el-Sheikh declaration on strengthening international cooperation in the prevention of and fight against corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery”,
Recalling that, in the above-mentioned political declaration, States committed to continuing to enhance their understanding and strengthen their responses to any existing, growing and potential links, and disrupt them, recognizing that corruption can often be an enabler of other transnational crimes and illicit financial flows,
Recalling also that, in the Sharm el-Sheikh declaration, States parties were encouraged to further explore and enhance their knowledge of the links between corruption and other forms of crime, in particular organized crime and economic crime, including money-laundering, including during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery, to better strengthen integrity, transparency and accountability,
Noting article 8, on the criminalization of corruption, and article 9, on measures against corruption, of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,[14]
Reiterating the fundamental role of effective international cooperation in preventing and combating corruption, as recognized in the political declaration, and to this end underlining the importance of addressing, tackling and effectively responding to international challenges and barriers, in particular measures, that hinder such cooperation, and which are not consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and obligations under international law, and in this regard urging States parties, consistent with their international obligations, to refrain from applying such measures,
Recalling that, in the political declaration, States pledged to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation in a manner consistent with their obligations with regard to and respect for all human rights, justice, democracy and the rule of law at all levels, and to uphold the purposes and principles set forth in the Charter, the fundamental principles of international law, as well as the Convention against Corruption and the Organized Crime Convention, including, inter alia, respect for the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and of
non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, in the fight against corruption,
Recalling also its resolutions 5/6 of 29 November 2013, entitled “Private sector”, 6/5 of 6 November 2015, entitled “St. Petersburg statement on promoting public-private partnership in the prevention of and fight against corruption”, and
9/6 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Follow-up to the Marrakech declaration on the prevention of corruption”, which address public and private sector integrity, effective law enforcement cooperation at the domestic level and judicial integrity,
Recalling further its resolution 9/8 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Promoting anti-corruption education, awareness-raising and training”, in which it strongly encouraged States parties to promote comprehensive interdisciplinary research, as relevant, on patterns and trends in corruption to inform their anti-corruption policies and strategies and more effectively address emerging challenges and invited States parties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, with a view to promoting the active participation of civil society and the media, to undertake public information activities that contribute to promoting public knowledge of
anti-corruption laws and regulations and non-tolerance of corruption and to raising public awareness regarding the existence, causes, gravity, risks and effects of corruption,
Taking note of the note by the Secretariat on the links between corruption and other forms of crime, including during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery,[15] submitted to the Conference at its tenth session, in line with its resolution 9/1, and complementing the report of the Secretariat on progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of Conference resolution 9/1,[16]
Recognizing the importance of the prevention of and fight against corruption and organized crime for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,[17] noting in particular the relevance of Goal 16, to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, as a cross-cutting enabler, critical to achieving all the Sustainable Development Goals, and its target 16.4, aimed at significantly reducing illicit financial and arms flows, strengthening the recovery and return of stolen assets and combating all forms of organized crime, and target 16.5, aimed at substantially reducing corruption and bribery in all their forms,
Acknowledging the importance of promoting, facilitating and supporting international cooperation and technical and material assistance in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including in asset recovery,
Convinced of the importance of providing timely, adequate, effective and, where possible, long-term, sustainable technical assistance, upon request, for the implementation of the Convention against Corruption, including through targeted capacity-building for States parties’ institutions involved in the implementation of anti-corruption measures,
Recognizing that the criminal offences provided for in the Convention may involve organized criminal groups, when members of such groups commit, participate in or benefit from such offences in order to commit other crimes, which are often transnational in nature, and also recognizing that appropriate measures are needed at the national and international levels to prevent and combat corruption in those cases,
1. Invites States parties to further enhance their understanding of the risks and impacts of corruption involving organized criminal groups, also with a view to developing common approaches, insofar as possible, and to share their best practices, lessons learned and methodologies in this regard;
2. Calls upon States parties to develop and foster, in accordance with their domestic law, measures for strengthening the integrity of their public sector institutions and public procurement processes, including through codes of conduct and measures to manage and address conflicts of interest for public officials, in order to prevent and combat corruption involving organized criminal groups;
3. Encourages States parties to incorporate in their efforts to prevent and combat corruption involving organized criminal groups, where applicable, the lessons learned and best practices included in the outcomes of the country reviews under the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption;
4. Calls upon States parties to address corruption involving organized criminal groups while fully respecting the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, in accordance with article 4 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption;
5. Encourages States parties to enhance, within their means, their capabilities to prevent, detect and combat corruption involving organized criminal groups in the prevention and mitigation of and preparedness for, as well as during the response and recovery phases of, emergencies and crises, within the framework of the Convention and in accordance with their domestic law;
6. Calls upon States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to take appropriate measures to identify, assess, mitigate and manage corruption risks in the public sector and to enhance the capacities of public institutions, including in their procurement processes, to prevent and address the infiltration of organized criminal groups by strengthening policies that promote good governance, the rule of law, transparency and accountability;
7. Encourages States parties to enhance their efforts, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to prevent corruption involving organized criminal groups in the private sector by strengthening the measures enshrined in article 12, paragraph 2, of the Convention;
8. Also encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to develop and enhance mechanisms for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of corruption involving organized criminal groups and to strengthen the capacities of law enforcement agencies, criminal justice institutions and other competent authorities;
9. Further encourages States parties, consistent with their obligations under the Convention and in accordance with their domestic legal systems, and within their means, to take appropriate measures for the protection of reporting persons, witnesses, experts, victims insofar as they are witnesses, and, as appropriate, their relatives and other persons close to them, in cases of corruption involving organized criminal groups;
10. Encourages States parties to establish and promote the use of appropriate measures and systems, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to safely and confidentially report cases of corruption involving organized criminal groups to competent authorities;
11. Also encourages States parties to provide a safe and adequate environment to journalists who report on corruption involving organized criminal groups, and to investigate, prosecute and punish threats and acts of violence, falling within their jurisdiction, committed against those journalists;
12. Notes with appreciation the important role of civil society, academia, the private sector and the media in identifying, detecting and reporting on cases of corruption, and in this regard urges States parties to take appropriate measures, within their means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and the private sector, in the prevention of and fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption, including when it involves organized criminal groups, encourages States parties to respect, promote and protect the freedom to seek, receive, publish and disseminate information concerning corruption, which may be subject to certain restrictions, such as are provided for by law and are necessary for respect of the rights or reputations of others and for the protection of national security, public order or public health or morals, and also encourages States parties to consider inviting those individuals and groups to contribute to the development and implementation of technical assistance programmes, upon request and on the basis of the needs identified for the implementation of the provisions of the Convention, and making efforts so that the conditions are present for their effective contribution to achieving the objectives of the Convention, including the ability to operate independently and without fear of reprisal because of their efforts in that regard, in accordance with domestic law and the respective applicable international obligations of States parties;
13. Encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to leverage a multi-stakeholder approach to anti-corruption policies and programmes for supporting victims of crime, taking into account their experiences, in appropriate cases;
14. Invites States parties to strengthen, where appropriate and in accordance with their domestic law, inter-agency investigative coordination at the domestic level, including by conducting joint or parallel investigations, and to explore how to improve their organizational arrangements, such as through the establishment or strengthening of offices or units mandated to investigate cases of corruption involving organized criminal groups;
15. Encourages States parties to consider, in accordance with article 49 of the Convention and consistent with their domestic law, concluding bilateral or multilateral agreements or arrangements to investigate cases of corruption involving organized criminal groups through joint investigations, which may also be undertaken by agreement on a case-by-case basis, and to make full use of existing facilitation mechanisms for such purposes, including those of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities, the International Criminal Police Organization and other relevant international law enforcement networks, as appropriate;
16. Calls upon States parties to take such measures, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Convention and their domestic legal systems, as may be necessary to enable the identification, tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of proceeds of crime derived from offences established in accordance with the Convention or property the value of which corresponds to that of such proceeds, as well as property, equipment or other instrumentalities used in or destined for use in offences established in accordance with the Convention, and to enable the return and disposal of those assets in accordance with article 57 of the Convention, in cases of corruption involving organized criminal groups;
17. Encourages States parties to strengthen, in accordance with the Convention, comprehensive domestic regulatory and supervisory regimes for banks and non-bank financial institutions, including natural or legal persons that provide formal or informal services for the transmission of money or value and, where appropriate, other bodies particularly susceptible to money-laundering, within their competence, including legal, accounting, real estate and corporate service providers, in order to assess and address, consistent with domestic law, their potential role in facilitating or enabling corruption offences involving organized criminal groups and the laundering and transfer of proceeds of crime, as well as illicit financial flows derived from proceeds of crime;
18. Urges States parties to afford one another the widest measure of mutual legal assistance in accordance with the Convention and their domestic law, including, where applicable, through digital means, with respect to investigations, prosecutions and judicial proceedings in relation to corruption involving organized criminal groups, including for the purpose of asset recovery, consistent with States parties’ obligations set forth in the Convention against Corruption and other relevant bilateral and multilateral instruments to which they are party, such as the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as applicable and where deemed appropriate;
19. Encourages States parties to take meaningful steps to facilitate effective mutual legal assistance in cases of corruption involving organized criminal groups and address challenges and remove barriers to international cooperation;
20. Also encourages States parties to promote, within their means and in accordance with their domestic law, cooperation to the fullest extent in their investigations of corruption involving organized criminal groups, including by using existing relevant networks established under the auspices of the United Nations and, where applicable, other international and regional networks for the purpose of information exchange among law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence units, stressing that cooperation within such networks should remain technical in nature;
21. Further encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to ensure, or to continue ensuring, timely access by their domestic competent authorities to adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information on legal persons and legal arrangements, and to make use of beneficial ownership information to investigate and prosecute corruption involving organized criminal groups and, where appropriate, to identify, recover and return proceeds of crime;
22. Encourages States parties, in accordance with article 61 of the Convention against Corruption and their domestic law, to exchange information with a view to addressing current and emerging trends in corruption involving organized criminal groups;
23. Urges States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to take and effectively implement measures to maintain efficient extradition arrangements in relation to corruption offences involving organized criminal groups, and calls upon States parties to ensure, if they use the Convention as the basis for extradition, that the procedures are fully consistent with the Convention, so that those who commit the offences established in accordance with the Convention are held liable;
24. Also urges States parties to foster and strengthen effective international cooperation to prevent and combat corruption involving organized criminal groups through applicable bilateral, regional and multilateral initiatives, including those implemented within the framework of the Convention;
25. Further urges States parties, according to their capacity, to provide capacity-building and technical assistance, including material assistance and training, especially for developing countries, to prevent and combat corruption involving organized criminal groups;
26. Directs the open-ended intergovernmental expert meeting to enhance international cooperation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption to:
(a) Include, as a topic for discussion at its fourteenth meeting, best practices and challenges concerning international cooperation in addressing corruption involving organized criminal groups, including the transnational nature of those crimes;
(b) Collect, with the support of the secretariat, information provided by States parties on a voluntary basis on best practices and challenges concerning international cooperation in addressing corruption involving organized criminal groups, including the transnational nature of those crimes;
(c) Analyse, with the support of the secretariat, the information received from States parties on a voluntary basis with a view to developing a collection of good practices and conclusions for strengthening international cooperation to effectively prevent, identify, investigate and prosecute corruption involving organized criminal groups, including the transnational nature of those crimes;
27. Directs the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to hold, during its sixteenth meeting, a thematic discussion on the prevention of corruption involving organized criminal groups, including the transnational nature of those crimes, and requests the secretariat to bring the outcomes of the thematic discussion to the attention of the open-ended intergovernmental expert meeting to enhance international cooperation under the Convention for the development of the collection of good practices and conclusions mentioned in paragraph 26 (c) above;
28. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in close cooperation with bilateral and multilateral technical assistance providers, to continue to provide technical and material assistance to States parties, upon request, based on their priorities and needs and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, in implementing the relevant provisions of the present resolution;
29. Also requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to report to the Conference of the States Parties on the implementation of the present resolution;
30. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes specified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Recognizing that beneficial ownership transparency is critical for combating corruption and tackling the misuse of legal persons and legal arrangements to conceal the proceeds of offences established in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption,[18]
Recognizing also that the loss of resources caused by corruption, including complex cases such as those involving multiple national jurisdictions and vast quantities of assets, may constitute a substantial proportion of the resources of States and has a particularly negative impact on developing countries,
Recalling article 12, paragraph 2 (c), of the Convention, which requires States parties to take measures to promote transparency among private entities, including, where appropriate, measures regarding the identity of legal and natural persons involved in the establishment and management of corporate entities,
Recalling also article 14, paragraph 1 (a), of the Convention, which requires that each State party shall institute a comprehensive domestic regulatory and supervisory regime for banks and non-bank financial institutions, including natural or legal persons that provide formal or informal services for the transmission of money or value and, where appropriate, other bodies particularly susceptible to money-laundering, within its competence, in order to deter and detect all forms of money-laundering, which regime shall emphasize requirements for customer identification and, where appropriate, beneficial owner identification, record-keeping and the reporting of suspicious transactions,
Recalling further article 52, paragraph 1, of the Convention, which requires that each State party shall, without prejudice to article 14, take such measures as may be necessary, in accordance with its domestic law, to require financial institutions within its jurisdiction to verify the identity of customers, to take reasonable steps to determine the identity of beneficial owners of funds deposited into high-value accounts and to conduct enhanced scrutiny of accounts sought or maintained by or on behalf of individuals who are, or have been, entrusted with prominent public functions and their family members and close associates, and that such enhanced scrutiny shall be reasonably designed to detect suspicious transactions for the purpose of reporting to competent authorities and should not be so construed as to discourage or prohibit financial institutions from doing business with any legitimate customer,
Recalling its resolution 4/4 of 28 October 2011, entitled “International cooperation in asset recovery”, in which it encouraged States parties to remove additional barriers to asset recovery by ensuring that financial institutions and, where applicable, designated non-financial services and professions adopt and implement effective standards to ensure that such entities are not being used to hide stolen assets, by, inter alia, adopting such measures as the collection and provision of beneficial ownership information,
Recalling also its resolution 5/3 of 29 November 2013, in which it encouraged States parties to cooperate in order to implement the necessary measures to enable them to obtain reliable information on beneficial ownership of companies, legal structures or other complex legal mechanisms, including trusts and holdings, used to commit crimes of corruption or to hide and transfer proceeds,
Recalling further that, in its resolution 5/3 and in its resolution 6/3 of 6 November 2015, it urged States parties to ensure that reliable beneficial ownership information on companies was accessible onshore to law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities, including, as appropriate, financial intelligence units and tax administrations, thus facilitating the investigation process and the execution of requests,
Recalling the political declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption on 2 June 2021,[19] entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”, in which Member States committed to making efforts in international cooperation and taking appropriate measures to enhance beneficial ownership transparency by ensuring that adequate, accurate, reliable and timely beneficial ownership information was available and accessible to competent authorities and by promoting beneficial ownership disclosures and transparency, such as through appropriate registries, where consistent with the fundamental principles of domestic legal systems and using as a guideline the relevant initiatives of regional, interregional and multilateral organizations against money-laundering, and in which Member States committed, to that end, to developing and implementing the measures necessary to collect and share such information on the beneficial ownership of companies, legal structures and other complex legal mechanisms, and to enhancing the ability of competent authorities in that regard,
Recalling also its resolution 9/7 of 17 December 2021 on enhancing the use of beneficial ownership information to facilitate the identification, recovery and return of proceeds of crime,
Reaffirming the commitment of States parties and determined to give effect to the obligations set out in chapter V of the Convention in order to identify, detect, trace, freeze, seize, confiscate, recover and return in a more effective manner the proceeds of crime and to strengthen international cooperation in asset recovery in that regard,
Recognizing that those who engage in corrupt acts, whether natural or legal persons, should be held accountable and prosecuted by the competent authorities, consistent with the requirements of the Convention, and that all efforts should be made to conduct investigations into assets illegally acquired by them and to recover such assets,
Taking note of the report of the High-level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda,[20]
Concerned about the challenges that competent domestic authorities face in accurately and expeditiously identifying beneficial owners of legal persons and arrangements for the purpose of preventing, detecting, investigating and prosecuting offences established in accordance with chapter III of the Convention and enabling the identification, recovery and return of assets in accordance with chapter V of the Convention,
Recalling the political declaration, in which States parties recognized that preventing and countering corruption and illicit financial flows and recovering and returning confiscated assets, in accordance with the Convention, could contribute to effective resource mobilization, poverty eradication, sustainable development and the enjoyment of all human rights, also recognized that corruption was often transnational in nature and reiterated the need for strong international cooperation and assistance in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of corruption offences, as well as in the recovery and return of confiscated assets in accordance with the Convention,
Noting applicable international standards on beneficial ownership, in accordance with domestic law, in which, inter alia, countries are urged to enhance the transparency of beneficial ownership information through the provision of adequate, accurate and up-to-date information on the beneficial ownership and control of legal persons, including, where appropriate and consistent with domestic law, through registries or other alternative mechanisms that can be obtained or accessed in a timely fashion by domestic competent authorities in order to enable the recovery and return of assets in accordance with the Convention,
Acknowledging the progress made by States parties in enhancing their domestic frameworks to achieve greater beneficial ownership transparency, and encouraging them to further step up their efforts in this regard,
Recalling that, in the political declaration, Member States recognized the role that technologies could play in support of anti-corruption measures, including in public procurement and with regard to asset and conflict of interest declarations by public officials to appropriate authorities, in accordance with the fundamental principles of domestic law, to promote transparency, interaction with citizens and accountability, and the importance of strengthening cooperation and the exchange of best practices on the development and application of such technologies, and resolved to promote, while safeguarding personal data protection and privacy rights, the use of technological innovations to prevent, detect and combat corruption and facilitate digital government in that regard by leveraging technological advancements, including systems and programmes that improved the ability of the competent authorities to conduct financial analysis, such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime software goAML,
Underlining that the fully effective implementation of the provisions of the Convention, including with respect to preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, and international cooperation, is essential to efforts in support of asset recovery and return,
Emphasizing that the return of assets is a fundamental principle of the Convention, and that States parties shall afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in this regard,
Recalling that, in the political declaration, Member States noted with appreciation the important role of civil society, academia, the private sector and the media in identifying, detecting and reporting on cases of corruption, and committed to taking appropriate measures, within their means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and the private sector, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption,
1. Calls upon States parties to ensure or continue ensuring access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information of legal persons and legal arrangements, and, as necessary, consider maintaining historical records, that is searchable by domestic competent authorities, including, as appropriate, financial intelligence units and tax administrations, in accordance with domestic law;
2. Urges States parties to cooperate closely with one another, bearing in mind the need to provide one another the widest measure of international cooperation, in accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption and domestic law, to facilitate the efficient exchange of adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information in a timely manner and, where appropriate and feasible, through the use of digital and innovative technologies, including to facilitate the recovery and return of assets;
3. Calls upon States parties, in accordance with the Convention and the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to adopt a multipronged approach to beneficial ownership transparency through appropriate mechanisms that provide access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information on legal persons and legal arrangements in order to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of cases of corruption and the identification, recovery and return of assets;
4. Invites States parties to consider taking such measures as may be necessary, in accordance with their domestic law, to include a definition of beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements in domestic legislation or regulation and to ensure that beneficial ownership information is made available through national systems;
5. Encourages States parties to collect and maintain adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information, where appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic legal systems and domestic law, so that domestic competent authorities may obtain and access beneficial ownership data in a timely manner;
6. Encourages States parties that have not already done so to consider, in accordance with their domestic law, setting up and/or making available appropriate access by competent authorities to adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information of legal persons and legal arrangements;
7. Encourages States parties to make use of relevant beneficial ownership information, as appropriate, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law, to prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption and money-laundering and to facilitate the identification, recovery and return of assets;
8. Urges States parties to take measures to facilitate, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, as appropriate, access to beneficial ownership information by domestic public procurement authorities;
9. Also urges States parties to take appropriate measures, within their means and in accordance with domestic law, to promote the active participation of individuals and groups outside the public sector in the prevention of and the fight against corruption;
10. Encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to further a common understanding of the essential elements of beneficial ownership and the means of identifying the beneficial owners of various types of legal persons and legal arrangements and to ensure the availability of data that allow for their identification;
11. Urges States parties to further implement paragraph 1 of article 52, which requires States parties, as may be necessary and in accordance with their domestic law, to require financial institutions within their jurisdiction to verify the identity of customers, to take reasonable steps to determine the identity of beneficial owners of funds deposited into high-value accounts and to conduct enhanced scrutiny of accounts sought or maintained by or on behalf of individuals who are, or have been, entrusted with prominent public functions and their family members and close associates;
12. Also urges States parties to ensure that non-compliance with beneficial ownership regulations by legal persons and legal arrangements is subject to appropriate, effective, proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal penalties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law;
13. Further urges States parties to increase their efforts to prevent and counter corruption that involves vast quantities of assets, noting that no country alone can effectively combat complex cases involving multiple jurisdictions, and that international cooperation and technical assistance are needed in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including asset recovery;
14. Urges States parties to make use of opportunities for cooperation and peer learning through existing practitioner-based networks, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law;
15. Calls upon States parties to, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law, remove obstacles and challenges hindering access to and the use of adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information by domestic competent authorities in a timely manner that can be used to detect corruption and identify, recover and return assets;
16. Encourages States parties, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law, to further strengthen or establish channels of communication, to facilitate the sharing and exchange of beneficial ownership information and to remove obstacles and address challenges in efforts to prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption and to recover and return assets;
17. Also encourages States parties, with the assistance of the secretariat, to share, on a voluntary basis, examples of good practices in promoting beneficial ownership information transparency to facilitate the recovery and return of assets, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law, and financial disclosure requirements for public officials, while avoiding the duplication of work undertaken by other international forums;
18. Decides that the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Asset Recovery and the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption should, within their mandates and without duplicating the work of other relevant international organizations, include in their workplans for the period 2024–2025 the topic of good practices and challenges with respect to beneficial ownership information in order to detect, deter and prevent acts of corruption and to enhance the recovery and return of assets in accordance with the Convention;
19. Requests the secretariat, within existing resources, to collect and update information provided by States parties on a voluntary basis with regard to which States parties maintain a registry or alternative mechanism on beneficial ownership information, together with information on how to make requests for such information, and to report on progress made in this regard to the Conference at its future sessions and to its relevant subsidiary bodies;
20. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to convene an intergovernmental meeting with the participation of relevant experts, subject to the availability of resources, in close coordination with States parties, to identify and share best practices and challenges in the use of beneficial ownership information, including on how the recovery and return of assets could be facilitated by beneficial ownership information, and develop case studies for States parties on best practices and challenges identified;
21. Also requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as appropriate, to continue providing technical assistance, capacity-building and material support, upon request, to States parties, on the basis of their needs and priorities, with regard to establishing and implementing domestic beneficial ownership information mechanisms in order to facilitate the recovery and return of assets, in accordance with the Convention and domestic law;
22. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes identified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Reaffirming the United Nations Convention against Corruption[21] as the only universal legally binding anti-corruption instrument in which States parties committed themselves to mitigating corruption as a transnational phenomenon that affects societies and economies globally, making international cooperation necessary in all areas of governance,
Recognizing that the relevant institutions of States parties responsible for the oversight and use of public resources may have the competence and capacity to determine administrative and civil liability and to refer indications of criminal liability to the relevant authorities, without prejudice to the functions of other institutions of each State party in this area and in accordance with its domestic law,
Recognizing also the importance of strengthening the capacities of the relevant institutions responsible for the oversight and use of public resources through effective international cooperation, including, where appropriate, through the exchange of information and best practices in administrative and civil matters relating to corruption,
Bearing in mind article 43 of the Convention, in which it is stated that States parties shall consider assisting each other in investigations of and proceedings in civil and administrative matters relating to corruption, where appropriate and consistent with their domestic legal systems,
Recalling article 48 of the Convention, in which it is stated that States parties shall cooperate closely with one another, consistent with their respective domestic legal and administrative systems, to enhance the effectiveness of law enforcement action to combat the offences covered by the Convention,
Recognizing that among the purposes of mutual legal assistance, as contemplated in article 46, paragraph 3 (f), of the Convention, is the provision of originals or certified copies of relevant documents and records, including government, bank, financial, corporate or business records, and that, under paragraph 29 of the same article, the requested State party is required to provide copies of government records, documents or information in its possession that, under its domestic law, are available to the general public, and when the aforementioned information is not available to the public under its domestic law, the provision in whole, in part or subject to conditions may be considered at the discretion of the requested State party,
Reaffirming that the return of assets pursuant to chapter V is a fundamental principle of the Convention, and recalling article 51, in which it is stated that States parties shall afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in this regard,
Recalling article 46, paragraph 3 (k), of the Convention, under which States Parties shall afford one another the widest measure of mutual legal assistance for the recovery of assets, in accordance with the provisions of chapter V of the Convention,
Recalling also article 52, paragraph 5, of the Convention, under which States parties are required to consider establishing, in accordance with their domestic law, effective financial disclosure systems for appropriate public officials and provide for appropriate sanctions for non-compliance, and to consider taking measures as may be necessary to permit their competent authorities to share that information with the competent authorities in other States parties when necessary to investigate, claim and recover proceeds of offences established in accordance with the Convention,
Recalling further its resolutions 5/1 and 5/3 of 29 November 2013, in which it encouraged States parties to afford one another, when feasible, in accordance with domestic law, international cooperation in civil and administrative proceedings for the detection of corruption offences and, in particular, for the identification, freezing and confiscation of assets derived from offences established in accordance with the Convention, in accordance with article 43, paragraph 1, and article 46, paragraph 3, of the Convention, and in which it requested the secretariat to invite States parties to provide, to the extent possible, information on such proceedings for submission to the relevant subsidiary bodies of the Conference,
Recalling its resolution 6/4 of 6 November 2015 on enhancing the use of civil and administrative proceedings against corruption, including through international cooperation, in the framework of the Convention, in which it called upon Member States to inform the secretariat about designated officials or institutions appointed, where appropriate, as focal points for the use of civil and administrative proceedings against corruption, and its resolution 7/1 of 10 November 2017, in which it urged States parties to consider, where possible, adopting and making publicly available guidelines and procedures on mutual legal assistance and other forms of international cooperation, including information on relevant civil and administrative proceedings pursuant to article 43 of the Convention,
Recalling also its resolutions 8/13 of 19 December 2019 and 9/3 of 17 December 2021 on enhancing collaboration between the supreme audit institutions and anti-corruption bodies to more effectively prevent and fight corruption, in which it called upon States parties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to strengthen coordination and cooperation at the national, regional and international levels among bodies involved in preventing and combating corruption, to afford one another, without delay, effective mutual legal assistance, and to take meaningful steps to facilitate effective cooperation and remove barriers, consistent with article 46 of the Convention,
Taking note of the analyses of State practices on international cooperation in civil and administrative proceedings prepared in the respective notes by the Secretariat to facilitate the deliberations of the Conference of the States Parties, the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Asset Recovery and the open-ended intergovernmental expert meeting to enhance international cooperation under the Convention,[22]
Considering the common objectives of national anti-corruption agencies and supreme audit institutions with regard to promoting integrity, accountability, transparency and the proper management of public affairs and public property, as well as the efficient use of public resources,
Emphasizing the importance of domestic inter-institutional cooperation within States to align and amplify efforts in administrative procedures against corruption,
Acknowledging the role of international and regional organizations of supreme audit institutions in promoting international cooperation to prevent and fight corruption, and welcoming the collaboration between the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
Recognizing the role of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities, the International Criminal Police Organization and other relevant networks and forums as platforms for sharing experiences and lessons learned among their members, including with regard to the promotion of administrative procedures against corruption,
1. Calls upon States parties to effectively implement article 43, paragraph 1, of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and, to this end, to consider, in accordance with their domestic legal systems, strengthening existing mechanisms, including, as applicable, national regulatory frameworks, in order to afford one another international cooperation in investigations in civil and administrative matters related to corruption and, where appropriate, to adopt such legislative and other measures as may be necessary to facilitate such assistance, bearing in mind their obligations under the Convention, while also continuously assessing the effectiveness of those mechanisms and measures;
2. Takes note with appreciation of the study prepared by the secretariat entitled “Civil and administrative liability for corruption: domestic practices and ways to enhance international cooperation under the United Nations Convention against Corruption”, which explores the extent to which civil and administrative law remedies can contribute to the fight against corruption, with the aim of developing knowledge, facilitating the sharing of experience and good practices and promoting international cooperation, as well as fostering the inter-institutional exchange of information;
3. Calls upon States parties to continue to inform the secretariat about designated officials or institutions appointed, where appropriate, as focal points for the use of civil and administrative proceedings against corruption, including for international cooperation, in line with its resolution 6/4, and requests the secretariat to continue to update the focal point database in this regard;
4. Encourages States parties to promote and foster cooperation between competent domestic bodies and institutions, in particular through the coordination of joint activities and the exchange of information required for analysis, investigation and law enforcement purposes;
5. Urges States parties, where appropriate and consistent with their national legal systems, to provide each other with the widest possible assistance in investigations of and proceedings in civil and administrative matters relating to corruption offences committed by natural or legal persons, including, as appropriate, through mutual legal assistance, for the detection of corruption offences, the identification, freezing and confiscation of assets and the other purposes established in article 46, paragraph 3, of the Convention;
6. Urges States parties to provide domestic competent authorities with timely access to adequate, accurate and up-to-date beneficial ownership information in accordance with their domestic law;
7. Encourages States parties, as may be necessary, to consider the possibility of concluding multilateral, regional or bilateral treaties, agreements or arrangements, or inter-agency agreements, on civil and administrative matters relating to corruption, including international cooperation, in order to promote the legal basis for granting mutual legal assistance requests in a timely and effective manner;
8. Reiterates its resolution 7/1, entitled “Strengthening mutual legal assistance for international cooperation and asset recovery”, in which it urged States parties, where appropriate and in accordance with their domestic legal principles, to remove barriers to asset recovery, including by simplifying legal procedures, while preventing their abuse, and by processing requests for assistance without delay, in order to enhance international cooperation under chapters IV and V of the Convention, acknowledging the fundamental principles of due process of law in criminal proceedings and in civil or administrative proceedings to adjudicate property rights;
9. Invites States parties to encourage their competent national authorities that have not done so to consider joining and enhancing their participation in relevant existing networks and forums, such as the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities and the International Criminal Police Organization, in order to strengthen communication and the exchange of information, with due regard for data protection, with a view to successfully concluding inquiries and proceedings or formulating mutual legal assistance requests, including in civil and administrative matters, where consistent with domestic law;
10. Also invites States parties to strengthen cooperation with relevant international organizations in the prevention of and fight against corruption, with the objective of advancing in areas such as investigation and the exchange of information between countries when appropriate and in accordance with domestic law;
11. Encourages States parties, while protecting the confidentiality of ongoing investigations, to share, at the open-ended intergovernmental expert meetings to enhance international cooperation under the Convention, good practices on mutual legal assistance requests made and the results obtained regarding civil and administrative proceedings related to corruption;
12. Urges States parties that apply mutual legal assistance procedures to civil and administrative proceedings, where appropriate and possible, in accordance with domestic law, to voluntarily collect information, including statistics on mutual legal assistance received, provided and denied in civil and administrative proceedings, as well as explanations of reasons for denial, and to provide those statistics to the secretariat in order to contribute to its preparation of relevant studies and reports;
13. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes set forth in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Concerned about the seriousness of the problems and threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law,
Reaffirming the commitment of States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption[23] as the most comprehensive, legally binding universal instrument on corruption, and the need for the full and effective use of the Convention,
Highlighting the important role that reporting plays in enhancing efforts provided by the States parties to more efficiently and effectively prevent and combat corruption and thus effectively implement the Convention,
Reaffirming the importance of all reporting persons to enable States parties to detect, investigate and prosecute cases of corruption,
Recalling article 33 of the Convention, which requires that States parties consider incorporating into their domestic legal systems appropriate measures to provide protection against any unjustified treatment for any person who reports in good faith and on reasonable grounds to the competent authorities any facts concerning offences established in accordance with the Convention,
Recalling also article 8, paragraph 4, of the Convention, which requires that States parties consider, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, establishing measures and systems to facilitate the reporting by public officials of acts of corruption to appropriate authorities, when such acts come to their notice in the performance of their functions, and article 13, paragraph 2, in which States parties are called upon to provide access to anti-corruption bodies by the public, where appropriate, for the reporting, including anonymously, of any incidents that may be considered to constitute an offence established in accordance with the Convention,
Recalling further that, in the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”,[24] adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption, held in 2021, Member States committed, inter alia, to providing a safe and enabling environment to those who expose, report and fight corruption and, as appropriate, for their relatives and other persons close to them, and to supporting and protecting against any unjustified treatment any person who identifies, detects or reports, in good faith and on reasonable grounds, corruption and related offences,
Acknowledging that reporting persons who report corruption to competent authorities in good faith and on reasonable grounds may require appropriate measures for protection against any unjustified treatment,
Acknowledging also that reporting persons who report corruption in the context of their professional activity and work-related environment, who may, in some countries, be referred to as whistle-blowers in their own domestic legal context or realities, may face unjustified treatment, and, in accordance with domestic law, also require appropriate protection,
Noting that the measures provided for in article 33 of the Convention represent one of the areas in which the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime received the largest numbers of recommendations and technical assistance requests as part of the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Highlighting the need to enhance knowledge regarding all types of harm faced by reporting persons as a result of reporting and, in that regard, to promote academic research on good practices with regard to the protection of reporting persons against all kinds of unjustified and retaliatory treatment,
Stressing the importance of efficient cooperation between relevant domestic authorities, in particular regulators and law enforcement agencies that investigate administrative and criminal offences, and public and private employers to ensure the protection of reporting persons,
Acknowledging the important contribution of individuals and groups outside the public sector, such as the private sector, civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and the media, in supporting the efforts of States parties to fight corruption, including by raising awareness of matters relevant to the protection of reporting persons, in accordance with article 13 of the Convention,
Recalling its resolution 9/1 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Sharm el-Sheikh declaration on strengthening international cooperation in the prevention of and fight against corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery”, in which it called upon States parties to establish and, where appropriate, diversify and strengthen confidential complaint systems and protected reporting systems that are accessible and inclusive,
Recalling also its resolution 9/4 of 17 December 2021 on strengthening the implementation of the Convention at regional levels, in which it requested the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to provide technical assistance to States parties, upon request, including in the area of assisting States parties, as appropriate, in incorporating into their domestic legal systems appropriate measures to provide protection against any unjustified treatment for any person who reports in good faith and on reasonable grounds to the competent authorities any facts concerning offences established in accordance with the Convention,
Recalling further its resolution 6/5 of 6 November 2015, entitled “St. Petersburg statement on promoting public-private partnership in the prevention of and fight against corruption”, in which it recommended that States parties consider, in accordance with their domestic legal systems, establishing confidential complaint systems and effective witness and whistle-blower protection programmes and measures, consistent with articles 32 and 33 of the Convention,
Recognizing the importance of the establishment of robust frameworks for reporting and for the protection of all reporting persons, including public officials, who report corruption through appropriate channels,
1. Calls upon States parties to continue their efforts to implement article 33 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, and to continue to develop appropriate measures to fully and effectively provide protection against unjustified treatment for all persons who, on reasonable grounds, expose or report corruption and related offences to competent authorities, and to extend the protection, when appropriate, to their relatives and other persons close to them;
2. Urges States parties to increase public awareness of means for reporting instances of corruption, including by disseminating information regarding the rights and responsibilities of reporting persons in accordance with domestic legislation;
3. Encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to establish and strengthen confidential complaint systems and protected internal reporting systems that are accessible, diversified and inclusive to facilitate timely reporting of corruption and to ensure the confidentiality of the reporting persons’ identities and personal information, including, where appropriate, allowing for anonymous reporting, and utilize innovative and digital technology in these efforts, with due regard for data protection and privacy rights;
4. Also encourages States parties, within their means, and in accordance with their domestic law, to consider that all reporting channels take into consideration good practices related to protecting reporting persons;
5. Further encourages States parties, where appropriate, to consider options to provide legal advice to persons who consider reporting corruption and ways of cooperating with competent authorities and other legal experts or professionals outside the public sector;
6. Calls upon States parties to ensure that all relevant protections are available to those who report corruption and may suffer unjustified treatment, including workplace retaliation or actions that can result in reputational, professional, financial, social, psychological and physical harm;
7. Encourages States parties to consider that appropriate remedies under domestic law are available to persons who report corruption in line with article 33 of the Convention for any unjustified treatment against them or retaliatory actions;
9. Further encourages States parties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to consider providing in their domestic frameworks appropriate and effective measures to deter unjustified treatment against reporting persons;
10. Encourages States parties, in accordance with domestic legislation, to ensure that individual legal or contractual obligations, such as confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements, cannot be used to conceal corrupt acts from scrutiny in order to deny protection or penalize reporting persons for having reported information on corruption-related offences to the competent authorities;
11. Invites States parties, as applicable and in accordance with their domestic law, to consider enhancing domestic legislation, such as employment legislation, in a manner that ensures the protection of any reporting person, particularly those who report in their professional context or workplace environment;
12. Calls upon States parties, in accordance with domestic law, to establish, facilitate and maintain complaint intake systems that allow reporting persons in their professional context or workplace environment to report directly to law enforcement or other relevant authorities, without the need to exhaust internal reporting systems first;
13. Encourages States parties to initiate, develop or improve specific training programmes for their personnel responsible for protecting reporting persons, in line with article 33 of the Convention, to effectively protect those persons against any unjustified treatment as a result of reporting;
14. Invites States parties, in accordance with domestic law, to interpret the notion of good faith, when included in national frameworks, as the reporting person’s reasonable belief that the information reported is true, and without consideration of personal reasons that may be behind the report;
15. Encourages States parties to consider, as appropriate, within their means, periodically assessing the effectiveness of their domestic law and policies regarding the protection of reporting persons and to make full use of the results of those reviews to further improve the protection of reporting persons and to build trust and improve the confidence of potential reporting persons;
16. Also encourages States parties to afford one another, according to their capacities, the widest measure of technical assistance in the protection of reporting persons, especially for the benefit of developing countries, including material assistance and training, notably at the regional level, based on their needs and priorities, including, inter alia, those identified by States in their country reviews;
17. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, within its mandate and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to continue and expand its provision of technical assistance and capacity-building to States parties, upon request, to support their capacity to protect reporting persons;
18. Also requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to convene an intergovernmental meeting with the participation of relevant experts, subject to the availability of resources, in close coordination with States parties, to identify and share best practices and challenges in the protection of reporting persons, and to develop a study for States parties on best practices and challenges identified;
19. Further requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to provide a report on the findings of that study to the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption and to hold a panel discussion on challenges and good practices in the protection of reporting persons at the next available meeting of the Working Group, on the basis of those findings;
20. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes identified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the United Nations
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Convinced that transparency and integrity in public procurement can serve as an enabler for implementing the United Nations Convention against Corruption[25] and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,[26] in particular in sectors that have a heightened risk of corruption in procurement,
Recalling the Convention against Corruption, in particular its articles 7 (Public sector), 8 (Codes of conduct for public officials), 9 (Public procurement and management of public finances), 10 (Public reporting) and 13 (Participation of society),
Recalling also that Member States, in the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”, adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption held in 2021, recognized that public procurement was at serious risk of corruption and emphasized the importance of strengthening open data, transparency and accountability, in accordance with domestic law, during the whole public procurement cycle,[27]
Noting theresolutions and decisions adopted by States parties at the ninth session of the Conference, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, from 13 to 17 December 2021, in particular paragraph 5 of its resolution 9/1 of 17 December 2021, in which it urged States parties to establish and, where necessary and appropriate, further strengthen, through the whole public procurement cycle, transparent, competitive and objective public procurement systems, and its resolution 9/3 of 17 December 2021, in which it recognized that the implementation of the Convention, other anti-corruption commitments undertaken by the States parties and the Sustainable Development Goals, among other factors, may benefit from the effective use of new developments in technology,
Noting also the significant gaps, identified through the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, in establishing appropriate systems of procurement, based on transparency, competition and objective criteria in decision-making, that are effective in preventing corruption,
Concerned by the impact that corruption in public procurement has on fair competition as well as the potentially exclusionary and other negative effects that it has on access to economic opportunities for small businesses and for businesses owned by women, as well as for people in vulnerable situations,
Highlighting the use of technology as a means of preventing and countering corruption, and encouraging States parties to adopt digital policies, where appropriate and consistent with their domestic legal systems, to promote transparency and public reporting in areas such as public procurement, the management of public finances and asset and interest disclosure, with a view to facilitating the reporting and detecting of acts of corruption in public procurement and in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration and international cooperation, as well as enhance accountability, transparency, integrity and public participation,
Noting the role that international financial institutions and multilateral development banks can play in assisting States parties, upon request, in the technical implementation of procurement reforms and improvements, data and digital transformation and legal frameworks,
Recognizing the value of the technical assistance provided by States parties, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other international and regional organizations in supporting the development of transparent, competitive and objective public procurement systems, including in emergencies, in particular for the benefit of developing countries, upon request, as part of their respective plans and programmes to prevent and combat corruption, including through the provision of material assistance and training,
Taking note of widely used references and diagnostic tools such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Public Procurement[28] and the Methodology for Assessing Procurement Systems, aimed at assisting States parties in the implementation of relevant articles of the Convention, and encouraging States parties to make use, where appropriate and in accordance with their domestic law, of such tools in contributing to the domestic implementation of effective procurement systems,
Strongly urging States parties to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries,
1. Urges States parties to develop easily and publicly accessible, clear, transparent and consistent public procurement laws, regulations and procedures, within their means and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to consolidate them domestically, as appropriate, and to make them available online in a timely manner;
2. Calls upon States parties, in accordance with article 5 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to develop and implement or maintain effective, coordinated anti-corruption policies that promote the participation of society and reflect the principles of the rule of law, proper management of public affairs and public property, integrity, transparency and accountability;
3. Encourages States parties to take measures, as necessary and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, to promote the integrity, transparency, accountability and effectiveness of their systems of procurement during the whole public procurement cycle, and among personnel responsible for procurement, and calls upon States parties to endeavour to establish measures adequately addressing and preventing conflicts of interest, such as the disclosing of private interests that could improperly influence the performance of official duties;
4. Also encourages States parties to develop, within their means, the skills and capabilities of officials participating in public procurement processes, through adequate training and tools to support the regular execution of their functions, including through effective international cooperation, capacity-building and technical assistance;
5. Urges States parties to implement or improve, as may be necessary, periodic training programmes for public officials, in particular those in positions vulnerable to corruption, inter alia, in the field of public procurement, to enhance their awareness of the risks of corruption inherent in the performance of their functions, with specific reference to resolving real-life situations, and to enable them to meet the requirements for the correct, honourable and proper performance of public functions;
6. Calls upon States parties to take the necessary steps to establish appropriate systems of procurement, based on transparency, competition and objective criteria in decision-making, that are effective in, inter alia, preventing corruption in accordance with article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention;
7. Emphasizes the need for States parties to ensure open, equitable and fair competitive tendering processes by publishing clear selection criteria and methods for awards, and recommends that strict and limited criteria be established to delineate exceptions to competitive tendering processes and that such exceptions be publicly disclosed;
8. Encourages States parties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to design and make use, where appropriate and within their means, of integrated electronic procurement systems that collect, manage, simplify, standardize and publish open data on the whole procurement cycle in a timely manner and in a user-friendly format;
9. Also encourages States parties, within their means and in accordance with their domestic law, to make use of integrated electronic procurement systems supporting analysis of procurement data and automated risk indicators, such as early warning methodologies or other means of detecting and reporting potential suspicious activities;
10. Further encourages States parties to take measures, in accordance with their domestic law, to ensure that complaints pertaining to specific procurement processes are addressed in an impartial, expeditious, effective and transparent way, and invites States parties to endeavour to provide adequate resources, where and when appropriate, within their means, to the competent authorities handling those complaints;
11. Urges States parties to incorporate and implement corruption risk management processes, in particular in institutions responsible for or concerned with crisis response and recovery, to help identify and mitigate potential corruption risks when designing, administering and managing the whole cycle of public procurement and relief measures, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems;
12. Encourages States parties, where appropriate and consistent with their domestic legal frameworks and the need to protect the rights or reputations of others, national security or ordre public, to seek to utilize information and communications technologies to strengthen the implementation of the Convention, to strengthen public awareness and to promote transparency and public reporting in areas such as public procurement, the management of public finances and asset and interest disclosure, with a view to facilitating the reporting and detecting of acts of corruption and to supporting the criminal prosecution of corruption-related offences;
13. Also encourages States parties to ensure the availability of laws, regulations and policies and to raise awareness within the private sector regarding these frameworks, to foster and assist legal entities in establishing and implementing anti-corruption ethics and compliance programmes or measures in order to prevent, detect and remediate issues that might arise in public procurement and in interaction with public administration, including in supply chains;
14. Calls upon States parties to encourage private sector efforts to contribute to non-tolerance of bribery and corruption related to public procurement, including through promoting good practices for ethical business conduct, and to raise awareness of the risk of bribery among businesses that engage with, and in particular those that contract with, governments;
15. Encourages States parties to take the measures necessary to ensure that providers of goods or services that have committed or are liable for acts of corruption are subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal or non-criminal sanctions, including, where appropriate, debarment, in accordance with their domestic law, and to facilitate, where appropriate, coordination and cooperation with other States parties in accordance with the Convention;
16. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to make available, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, in the Tools and Resources for Anti-Corruption Knowledge portal, relevant information provided on a voluntary basis by States parties, international financial institutions and multilateral development banks that maintain debarment registries, together with information on how to make requests for such information;
17. Encourages States parties to foster transparency through effective and inclusive public participation across the whole public procurement cycle to better understand public procurement and allow the public to monitor the use of public funds;
18. Also encourages States parties to consider offering training to suppliers and contractors participating in public procurement processes, as appropriate, on the rules and regulations with which they will need to comply in their roles;
19. Calls upon States parties to establish appropriate and effective measures that provide for audits across the whole procurement cycle and to ensure that the competent oversight authorities, according to their domestic law, including supreme audit institutions, have the necessary resources for assessing, as part of their audits of public bodies, the governance, the processes implemented for public procurement and the quality of internal control, providing recommendations and acting upon public feedback and civic monitoring and, in the event of alleged corruption, investigate or report to the competent authorities for investigation;
20. Encourages States parties, in accordance with domestic law, to strengthen coordination and cooperation between procurement authorities and bodies involved in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including national competent oversight authorities, as proposed in its resolution 9/3, and taking note of the practical guide issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime entitled Enhancing Collaboration between Supreme Audit Institutions and Anti-Corruption Bodies in Preventing and Fighting Corruption in this regard;
21. Also encourages States parties to adopt procurement policies which, in accordance with their legal systems, promote fair competition, in particular regarding the award of public contracts to micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises and businesses owned by women and persons in vulnerable situations;
22. Strongly urges States parties to refrain from promulgating and applying any unilateral economic, financial or trade measures not in accordance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations that impede the full achievement of economic and social development, particularly in developing countries;
23. Requests the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to include, as topics for discussion at its fifteenth and sixteenth meetings, the prevention of corruption in procurement at various government levels, including good practices, lessons learned and challenges, and the effective use of information and communications technologies to prevent, detect, deter and counter corruption in procurement;
24. Directs the Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to:
(a) Collect, with the support of the secretariat, information provided by States parties on a voluntary basis on good practices, lessons learned and challenges in the prevention and detection of corruption during the whole procurement cycle, including through the use of technology;
(b) Analyse, with the support of the secretariat and informed by the outcomes of a technical discussion on corruption and public procurement, to be convened subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, within its mandate, the information received, with a view to developing non-binding, step-by-step guidelines on the adoption and use of technology in procurement, including on appropriate change-management best practices and the identification of relevant open standards, to be made available in all official languages of the United Nations;
25. Requests the secretariat to report to the Conference at its eleventh session and to its relevant subsidiary bodies on the implementation of the present resolution;
26. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to provide technical assistance, including material assistance, to States parties, upon request, to support the enhancement of procurement systems, in line with the present resolution, through capacity-building, training and research, including on emerging corruption risks in public procurement;
27. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes specified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Concerned about the seriousness of the problems and threats posed by corruption to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,[29] our joint plan of action for people, planet and prosperity, including our efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, to build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and to fulfil the pledge made in the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind,
Acknowledging the strong commitment of States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,[30] as the only holistic, legally binding, universal instrument against corruption, and the need for the full and effective implementation of the obligations of the Convention,
Reaffirming that States parties shall implement their obligations under the Convention, bearing in mind that the prevention and eradication of corruption is the responsibility of all States, in a manner consistent with the principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity of States and that of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States,
Recognizing the significance of different national realities, perspectives, policies and priorities, as well as cultural diversity and religious values, when designing and implementing programmes and policies, in accordance with domestic law, to fulfil the obligations of States parties under the Convention,
Recalling the commitments made in the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”, adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption on 2 June 2021,[31]
Reiterating our common commitment to the empowerment of women and girls to further enhance national and international policies and programmes to prevent and fight corruption, including through their effective and meaningful participation in sustainable development and their meaningful participation in decision-making processes and public life,
Recognizing that the effective and meaningful participation of women and girls in public life is essential, and that, in this regard, intensified efforts are needed to develop and implement policies and programmes to prevent and combat corruption and to raise the awareness and enhance the ability of women and girls with respect to resisting, reporting and seeking redress against corruption, taking into account the relevant experiences of women and girls,
Urging States parties to improve their understanding of the ways in which corruption can affect women and men differently and to continue to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women, including by mainstreaming a gender perspective into relevant legislation, policy development, research, projects and programmes, as appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of domestic law,
Noting with appreciation the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,[32] which advances the goals of equality, development and peace for all women everywhere in the interest of all humanity, and the outcomes of its review conferences, and recalling the commitment expressed in the Kyoto Declaration on Advancing Crime Prevention, Criminal Justice and the Rule of Law: Towards the Achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development[33] to take further concrete action to ensure the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,
Recalling its resolution 9/4 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Strengthening the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption at regional levels”, in which States parties acknowledged that United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime regional platforms should consider mainstreaming a gender perspective into their activities while continuing to promote the role of women in preventing and combating corruption, including in relevant legislation, policy development, research, projects and programmes, as appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of the domestic law of States parties,
Welcoming the efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in supporting States parties in the implementation of Conference resolution 9/4,
Recognizing that women and girls have specific and diverse health needs and that corruption can have a negative impact on their rights to access quality and affordable health services, especially for those in vulnerable situations,
Recognizing also that demanding sex or acts of a sexual nature within the context of the abuse of authority may be considered a particular form of corruption, which is primarily perpetrated against women and girls, and concerned about the serious negative impact of such situations on them,
Recalling article 13 of the Convention, which requires States parties to take appropriate measures, within their means and in accordance with fundamental principles of their domestic law, to promote the active participation of society, such as women’s and community-based organizations, in the prevention of and the fight against corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and gravity of and the threat posed by corruption,
1. Encourages States parties to take measures, where necessary and in accordance with the fundamental principles of domestic law, to mainstream a gender perspective into preventive anti-corruption policies and strategies and, in accordance with articles 32 and 33 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, to provide effective protection from potential retaliation or intimidation for those affected by corruption, as well as for witnesses and experts who give testimony concerning offences established in accordance with the Convention and, as appropriate, for their relatives and other persons close to them;
2. Calls upon the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to mainstream a gender perspective into its relevant anti-corruption activities and programmes, in accordance with resolution 9/1 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Sharm el-Sheikh declaration on strengthening international cooperation in the prevention of and fight against corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery”, and in cooperation with States parties based on the fundamental principles of domestic law;
3. Encourages States parties to conduct further research on how corruption undermines gender equality and the principle of equality before the law, to compile good practices of States parties on improving equitable access to justice for all persons, and to develop recommendations for appropriate measures to be taken in this regard, and requests States parties to share their experiences with the Conference;
4. Also encourages States parties, in accordance with their national laws and relevant international obligations, to enhance the empowerment of women and girls through anti-corruption education and training programmes at all levels of education, as appropriate, as well as education and training programmes for public officials and the private sector, in order to promote a whole-of-society approach to preventing and combating corruption, especially for those in positions vulnerable to corruption, thereby further raising awareness and fostering a culture of non-acceptance of corruption;
5. Calls upon States parties to promote anti-corruption measures to ensure that women, men, girls and boys have equitable access to life-saving treatments, affordable medicines and other health-care services;
6. Encourages States parties to raise awareness that demanding sex or acts of a sexual nature within the context of the abuse of authority may be considered a particular form of corruption, and to close potential legislative gaps, as necessary, and take further measures, as needed and appropriate, in order to prevent and prosecute such forms of corruption effectively;
7. Also encourages States parties to promote the meaningful participation and engagement of, and cooperation with, women’s and community-based organizations that support women in the policy development, planning, implementation and monitoring of their anti-corruption programmes;
8. Further encourages States parties to promote the meaningful participation, leadership and representation of women and girls in anti-corruption activities, programmes and initiatives, including by developing robust awareness programmes that address challenges to their participation;
9. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to provide technical assistance to States parties, upon request, based on their priorities and needs, with a view to supporting the implementation of the present resolution;
10. Encourages States parties to consider carrying out surveys on the views and experiences of corruption, including its impact on women, men, girls and boys, through the collection of disaggregated corruption data, with a view to developing effective anti-corruption policies and strategies consistent with the Convention, and to voluntarily share the results of these efforts with other States parties through the Conference and at relevant meetings of its subsidiary bodies;
11. Also encourages States parties to share with each other, on a voluntary basis, good practices and experiences relating to their anti-corruption prevention efforts for promoting the empowerment of women and girls and to include, in this regard, their experiences of how to involve actors outside the public sector;
12. Requests the secretariat to continue sharing information with relevant United Nations entities in order to promote the purposes identified in the present resolution;
13. Invites States parties and other donors to provide, on a voluntary basis, extrabudgetary resources for the purposes identified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Acknowledging that preventing and fighting corruption at all levels and in all its forms is a priority and responsibility of all States parties,
Deeply concerned about emergencies, including those arising from pandemics and natural disasters, and their impact on, inter alia, good governance, the rule of law at all levels and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,[34] in particular Sustainable Development Goal 16, on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and its targets,
Recognizing that corruption risks may increase during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery as the urgency of needs, high demand for economic and health-related relief and the speed with which Member States and parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption[35] are required to respond create opportunities for corruption, which further impedes response and recovery efforts,
Reaffirming that preventing and combating corruption is particularly challenging during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery and that international cooperation is essential in all these efforts,
Recalling its resolution 9/1 of 17 December 2021, entitled “Sharm el-Sheikh declaration on strengthening international cooperation in the prevention of and fight against corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery”, and reaffirming the commitment of States parties to develop, put in place and, where appropriate, improve and strengthen anti-corruption policies and strategies in accordance with their domestic law to ensure emergency preparedness and address corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery,
Reaffirming the importance of fully implementing the Sharm el-Sheikh declaration with a view to building the capacities of States parties to prevent and combat corruption and enhance international cooperation, in particular during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery,
Recalling paragraph 73 of the political declaration entitled “Our common commitment to effectively addressing challenges and implementing measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation”, adopted by the General Assembly, in its resolution S-32/1 of 2 June 2021, at its special session against corruption, in which States committed themselves to ensuring that appropriate measures were in place to prevent and combat corruption when responding to or recovering from national crises and emergencies, while striving not to negatively impact the speed and quality of responses in such situations,
Recognizing the role of the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and other relevant networks and forums as platforms for sharing experiences and lessons learned among their members, including, where appropriate, during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery,
Recalling that, in its resolution 9/1, the Conference directed the open-ended intergovernmental expert meeting to enhance international cooperation under the Convention to analyse, with the support of the secretariat, the information received from States parties, with a view to developing non-binding guidelines for strengthening international and multilateral cooperation to further prevent, identify, investigate and prosecute corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery,
Acknowledging the information provided by States parties on a voluntary basis on best practices and challenges concerning international cooperation in combating corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery, including enhancing knowledge and exploring links between corruption and other forms of crime during such times, as well as on how to promote and strengthen international cooperation, technical support and capacity-building in that regard,
Taking note of the reports by the secretariat on progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of Conference resolution 9/1,[36]
1. Encourages States parties to further the full and effective use of the United Nations Convention against Corruption to develop, put in place and, where appropriate, improve and strengthen anti-corruption policies and strategies, in accordance with domestic law, to ensure emergency preparedness and address corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery;
2. Welcomes the progress made by States parties thus far, and urges States parties to continue to implement Conference resolution 9/1 and to follow up on the present resolution;
3. Also welcomes the non-binding guidelines for strengthening international and multilateral cooperation to further prevent, identify, investigate and prosecute corruption during times of emergency and crisis response and recovery,[37] which may support the efforts of States parties to address the most prevalent corruption risks encountered at different stages of emergencies and crisis response and recovery;
4. Encourages States parties to consider, as appropriate and in accordance with their domestic law, the non-binding guidelines when developing, reviewing or revising their national policies and strategies to prevent and counter corruption, as well as their pre-crisis planning and emergency response plans;
5. Also encourages States parties to monitor, review and adapt, as necessary, the anti-corruption measures implemented during emergencies and crisis response and recovery and to monitor their impact on corruption-related trends so as to identify corruption risks and take them into consideration in emergency planning;
6. Further encourages States parties to further strengthen international cooperation to prevent and fight corruption, including, where appropriate, during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery, by making use of and sharing experiences, best practices and lessons learned through the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), as well as other relevant existing networks and forums, as applicable;
7. Requests the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to include, as a topic for discussion at its next meeting, “Strengthening international cooperation in the prevention of and the fight against corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery”, in line with the present resolution;
8. Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in close cooperation with bilateral and multilateral technical assistance providers, such as the International Anti-Corruption Academy, to continue to provide technical assistance to States parties, upon request, on the basis of priorities and needs and subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, in implementing the relevant provisions of the present resolution;
9. Requests the secretariat to submit to the Conference at its eleventh session a report containing relevant updates with respect to the experiences and best practices, challenges and successes of States parties in the prevention of and the fight against corruption during times of emergencies and crisis response and recovery, in line with Conference resolution 9/1, as well as on the progress made and challenges encountered in implementing the present resolution;
10. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes specified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Highlighting the prominence that the United Nations Convention against Corruption[38] has given to the prevention of corruption, as the entirety of chapter II of the Convention is devoted to measures to prevent corruption in both the public and private sectors,
Stressing the importance of implementing article 12 of the Convention, in which States parties agreed to take measures to prevent corruption involving the private sector, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law,
Noting the importance of the contributions of the private sector to actions to prevent bribery of national public officials, foreign public officials and officials of public international organizations,
Reiterating the importance of measures taken by States parties, consistent with article 12 of the Convention, to prevent corruption involving the private sector, including by promoting integrity, transparency and accountability,
Recalling its resolution 5/6 of 29 November 2013, entitled “Private sector”, in which it requested States parties to promote anti-corruption measures among the business community with a view to reinforcing the role of the private sector in combating corruption,
Recalling also its resolution 6/5 of 6 November 2015, in which it reiterated the importance of efforts by States parties to take measures to prevent corruption involving the private sector, including codes of conduct, the prevention of conflicts of interest and the promotion of good commercial practices in the contractual relations of businesses with the State,
Recalling further the political declaration adopted by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption,[39] in which Member States committed to taking measures to prevent corruption involving the private sector and mitigating corruption risks when granting subsidies, contracts and licences, as well as setting high standards regarding anti-corruption policies,
Recognizing that corruption is a local and a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and undermines economic development, social justice and the rule of law, making international cooperation to prevent and combat it essential,
Recognizing also the importance of the prevention of corruption in the broader development agenda, including through the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 16, aimed at promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels, and other relevant goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,[40]
Concerned about the negative impact that all forms of corruption, including the solicitation of undue advantages, can have on access to basic services and the enjoyment of all human rights, and recognizing that it can exacerbate poverty and inequality and may disproportionately affect women, girls and the most disadvantaged individuals in society,
Reiterating the commitment of States parties to promoting the empowerment of women, in particular in the private sector,
Acknowledging the importance of States parties fostering a conducive environment for the private sector to adopt and implement effective integrity measures to prevent and combat corruption, while safeguarding economic activity and promoting sustainable development, including by addressing social and economic inequalities,
Recalling its resolution 8/3 of 20 December 2019, in which it encouraged States parties to engage the private sector in the promotion of integrity in its relations with the public sector, including, as appropriate, by encouraging the business community to develop and implement integrity programmes and policies that set standards of ethics and rules of conduct,
Recalling also its resolution 8/6 of 20 December 2019, in which it strongly encouraged States parties to raise awareness within the private sector of the need to establish and implement appropriate anti-corruption ethics and compliance programmes or measures, and invited States parties to consider, in accordance with their domestic law, providing appropriate incentives for the effective implementation of such programmes or measures,
Recognizing that the private sector and other stakeholders, including civil society, play an important role in the prevention of and fight against corruption, and highlighting the necessity of taking concrete steps towards strengthening public-private partnership in anti-corruption efforts,
Noting the importance of partnerships and cooperation between the public and private sectors in the implementation of anti-corruption measures, including when devising and assessing the effectiveness of integrity policies and procedures in the private sector,
Noting also the call to action from business to government on the twentieth anniversary of the Convention, aimed at intensifying efforts to tackle corruption involving the private sector,
Acknowledging the relevance of the Private Sector Forum, co-organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Global Compact during the tenth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, with a view to, inter alia, determining effective measures that States can adopt to provide incentives for compliance, and how the private sector can contribute to this endeavour,
1. Calls upon States parties to develop effective frameworks, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to provide incentives for the private sector to adopt integrity measures, including codes of conduct, to prevent and combat corruption and promote transparency in its relations with national public officials, foreign public officials and officials of public international organizations;
2. Also calls upon States parties to provide incentives for the private sector to implement robust internal governance and risk management systems for preventing acts of corruption and detecting illicit activities connected to corruption;
3. Encourages States parties to consider establishing regulatory frameworks, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their legal systems, that provide incentives for the private sector to develop and implement effective integrity measures to prevent and combat corruption by taking such measures into account in decisions relating to participation in public programmes, such as those related to subsidies, licences, procurement contracts and export credits, while also considering the structure and size of private enterprises;
4. Also encourages States parties to take measures, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to prevent corruption involving the private sector, by taking action to prevent the misuse of procedures regulating private entities, including procedures regarding subsidies and licences granted by public authorities for commercial activities;
5. Further encourages States parties to promote the meaningful participation, leadership and representation of women and girls in anti-corruption activities, programmes and initiatives, and in private sector integrity programmes;
6. Encourages States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, to take into account, when holding private sector entities liable for corruption, whether or not they have taken or are implementing effective integrity measures;
7. Invites States parties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to consider the possibility of providing incentives for private sector entities for the voluntary self-disclosure of corruption and for effective cooperation with national law enforcement authorities;
8. Also invites States parties, in accordance with their domestic law, when employing alternative legal mechanisms and non-trial resolutions, including settlements, to consider providing appropriate incentives for private sector entities that enter into such procedures in order to commit to developing or strengthening integrity measures to prevent corruption;
9. Encourages States parties, in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to consider, in the context of providing incentives for the adoption of integrity measures in the private sector, the adoption of laws, regulations and public policies to adequately evaluate compliance programmes, including by developing and making publicly available guidelines, methodologies and other evaluation tools;
10. Reiterates the need to prevent and combat corruption in all its forms, based on a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach, and in this regard encourages States parties, where appropriate and in accordance with the fundamental principles of their domestic law, to promote the adoption of comprehensive integrity programmes in the private sector that may take into account, inter alia, sustainable development;
11. Encourages States parties to ensure that comprehensive integrity systems do not create undue burdens on businesses and take into account their specific characteristics in different sectors, including their risk profiles, sizes, industries and financial capacities, so as to promote economic development;
12. Acknowledges that the adoption of integrity measures to prevent and combat corruption can provide tangible benefits to the private sector through the establishment of legal frameworks on private sector integrity that, inter alia, offer public recognition of integrity efforts, reduce the potential impact of sanctions, offer facilitated access to public policies and programmes, and increase access to financing and investment opportunities;
13. Encourages States parties to consider establishing industry-specific incentives for the adoption of integrity and anti-corruption programmes by private sector entities;
14. Invites States parties to publicly recognize, where appropriate, private sector entities that demonstrate a strong commitment to integrity, transparency and ethical conduct, in accordance with their domestic law;
15. Calls upon States parties to make concrete efforts, within their means, to provide technical assistance and exchange best practices on matters related to the present resolution;
16. Also calls upon States parties to provide the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, on a voluntary basis, with information on best practices and challenges related to incentives for the private sector to adopt integrity measures to prevent and combat corruption, and requests the Office, within its mandate and available resources, to collect and make such information available to all States parties and to report on the matter to the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention and the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption;
17. Directs the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption to include incentives for the private sector to adopt integrity measures to prevent and combat corruption as a topic for discussion at its future meetings;
18. Invites States parties and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes specified in the present resolution, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations.
Also at its tenth session, the Conference adopted the following decisions:
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, recalling General Assembly resolution 47/202 A of 22 December 1992 on the pattern of conferences, taking into consideration rules 3 and 6 of its rules of procedure, and welcoming the offer by the Government of Qatar to act as host to the eleventh session of the Conference, decides that its eleventh session will be held in Qatar in 2025.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption,
Underlining the importance of the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in supporting States parties in the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption[41] and in promoting universal adherence to the Convention,
Reaffirming its resolution 3/1 of 13 November 2009, which constitutes the basic foundation document for the Implementation Review Mechanism,
Recalling its resolution 6/1 of 6 November 2015, in which it reaffirmed the terms of reference of the Implementation Review Mechanism and, in particular, the guiding principles and characteristics of the Mechanism, as enshrined in chapter II of the terms of reference,
Reaffirming its decision 8/1 of 20 December 2019, in which it decided to extend the duration of the second cycle of the Implementation Review Mechanism by three years, that is, until June 2024, to allow for the completion of country reviews under that cycle, and taking note of the delays incurred during the second cycle, in particular those resulting from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic,
Noting that, pursuant to paragraph 47 of the terms of reference of the Implementation Review Mechanism, the Conference shall establish the phases and cycles of the process, as well as the scope, thematic sequence and details of the review,
Recognizing that the outcomes of the country review process should also be used to promote and facilitate technical cooperation between States parties in need of technical assistance and the providers of such assistance, especially for developing countries, upon their request,
(a) Decides to extend the duration of the second cycle of the Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption until June 2026;
(b) Calls upon States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption to remain engaged in the review process and to accelerate the completion of the second cycle, with a view to completing at least 70 per cent of reviews of States parties by June 2026 without prejudice to the quality of those country reviews;
(c) Decides that the Implementation Review Group shall dedicate the time necessary to continue its discussions on assessing the performance of the Implementation Review Mechanism, as well as on the scope, thematic sequence and details of the next review phase, including through additional resumed sessions of the Group, if possible back to back with sessions of the Group, within existing resources or subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to submit recommendations to the Conference at its eleventh session in this regard and to endeavour to launch the next phase as soon as possible;
(d) Urges States parties to provide voluntary extrabudgetary financial contributions to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to ensure funding to enable the participation of representatives of developing countries, especially those that do not have representation resident in Vienna, in the work of additional resumed sessions of the Implementation Review Group, including by covering their travel costs and accommodation expenses;
(e) Requests the Implementation Review Group to continue to address the technical assistance priorities identified in the country reviews, and invites technical assistance providers to consider those priorities for incorporation into either new or ongoing technical assistance programmes for developing countries, upon request;
(f) Requests the secretariat to prepare a workplan for the implementation of the present decision through 2024–2025 for adoption by the Implementation Review Group.
