The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) serves as the custodian of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the only universal, legally binding instrument against corruption that plays an essential role in uniting countries against corruption and fostering effective international cooperation. At the national level, the Convention supports numerous high-impact anti-corruption reforms, prompting important changes to legislative and institutional frameworks while strengthening international cooperation in cross-border cases and asset recovery. Corruption undermines crucial political, economic and social reforms, compromises the judiciary and law enforcement, hinders economic growth and investment, while leading to a loss of public trust in government and its institutions. The implementation of the Convention ensures that anti-corruption commitments are translated into reality, ensuring that anti-corruption efforts remain a trusted ally in supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction processes.
Ukraine ratified the UN Convention against Corruption in 2009. Following the completion of the first UNCAC review cycle on the implementation of Chapters III on criminalization and law enforcement and IV on international cooperation, the country began the review process for the second UNCAC review cycle, covering the implementation of Chapters II on preventive measures and V on asset recovery. In June 2024, Ukraine's UNCAC second cycle review process, which had been suspended in 2022 due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, resumed with the aim of supporting Ukraine in implementing the Convention. Through the Review Mechanism, an assessment of the preventive anti-corruption policies and practices and asset recovery measures in place will be carried out and good practices and recommendations for further improvement, as well as needs for technical assistance, will be identified.
UNODC in Ukraine also supports the country in accordance with the provisions of the UNCAC to foster cooperation between national authorities and the private sector (1) to fight corruption and address the challenges of developing public policies and mechanisms to safeguard business integrity, including though UNODC Global Action for Business Integrity, in the context of reconstruction and recovery efforts (read our webstory). UNODC’s intervention encourages the private sector to become more involved, notably through corporate compliance, cooperation with law enforcement in corruption cases, including by promoting the investigator-centered approach to investigating and prosecuting financial crimes such as money laundering (2) (read our webstory).
(1) Private Sector Cooperation: UNCAC emphasises the opportunities for cooperation between national authorities and the private sector to fight corruption and promote the interests of both the private and public sectors. (2) Money Laundering Prevention: Private sector entities, especially financial institutions are subject to international standards requiring them not to facilitate money-laundering. Source: UNCAC Toolkit of Private Sector
In recent years, the Ukrainian government has undertaken specific efforts in the fight against corruption:
In addition to the creation of anti-corruption bodies, Ukraine has also developed anti-corruption tools for oversight, control and direct democracy, launching fundamental reforms, including a law on lobbying by the Parliament and the law on local government transparency that enables the transfer of powers from central to local government, strengthening public control and the participation of community residents in decision-making, and generating legislation.
Corruption is constantly evolving and requires a high level of adaptation to manage current and emerging risks, such as artificial intelligence and green transition, and to intensify the intervention to end corrupt practices. While the inevitability of liability and robust criminalization for corruption and corruption-related offences is crucial in the fight against corruption crimes, it is essential to invest in broad preventive measures, as encouraged by UNCAC, - from effective anti-corruption strategies and bodies, optimized state and local government functions, increased transparency and effectiveness of state relations with individuals and organizations, to practical and legal alternatives to corrupt practices - to empower key government institutions, to increase citizens’ support, awareness and engagement in anti-corruption efforts, including through the creation of a whistle-blowing institution (read the web story on NACP and UNODC cooperation), to reduce public tolerance of corrupt practices and to improve civil society’s ability to advocate for anti-corruption reforms. Finally, the Convention also serves as an important tool for advancing the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to combat the pervasive impact of corruption on all the fundamental values and principles of the United Nations.
UNODC
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) serves as the custodian of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and as the secretariat of its Conference of the States Parties. The Convention covers five main areas: preventive measures, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in October 2003 and entered into force in December 2005 with 140 signatories and 190 parties as of July 2024.
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, also known as CoSP, is the main decision-making body of the Convention. It supports parties and signatories in their implementation of the Convention and provides policy guidance to UNODC to develop and implement anti-corruption activities.
The UNODC website on anti-corruption houses a wealth of useful resources, tools, knowledge portals and databases developed and collected by UNODC.
UNGASS
Through the adoption of the political declaration by the General Assembly at its special session against corruption in 2021, Member States recognized the importance of mainstreaming transparency and anti-corruption as a cross-cutting enabler for the broader development agenda and stressed that anti-corruption measures can help promote gender equality and human rights, address organized crime, safeguard sport from corruption, and ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of crisis responses.
Implementation Review Mechanism
The Mechanism for the Review of Implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, also called the “Implementation Review Mechanism” or “IRM” is a peer review process that assists States parties to effectively implement the Convention. It produces a weather of information related to States parties’ implementation of the Convention. The country profiles database provides access to all documents produced by the Mechanism to date, including executive summaries of country review reports, full country review reports (where available), information about the compliance with the notification requirements under the Convention, links to relevant national legal texts and information about relevant national authorities, among others.
The Conference of the States Parties to the Convention and its subsidiary bodies
The Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, also known as CoSP, is the main decision-making body of the Convention. It supports parties and signatories in their implementation of the Convention and provides policy guidance to UNODC to develop and implement anti-corruption activities. The Conference stands as a pivotal platform to promote collaboration, identify emerging challenges, harness experiences, recognize successful initiatives and shape collective global efforts in the years ahead.
The Conference has created several subsidiary bodies.
The Implementation Review Group is responsible for an overview of the review process in order to identify challenges and good practices and to consider technical assistance requirements to ensure effective implementation of the Convention.
The Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Prevention of Corruption, also called the 'Working Group on Prevention', is responsible for assisting and advising the Conference in the implementation of its mandate on preventive measures pursuant to chapter II of the Convention.
The Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Meeting to Enhance International Cooperation, also called the “Expert Meeting on International Cooperation” or “EMIC”, is responsible for assisting and advising the Conference in the implementation of its mandate on international cooperation pursuant to chapter IV of the Convention.
The Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Asset Recovery, also called the “Asset Recovery Working Group”, is responsible for assisting and advising the Conference in the implementation of its mandate on the return of proceeds of corruption pursuant to chapter V of the Convention.
Asset Recovery
The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) – a partnership between UNODC and the World Bank Group – supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. Its dedicated portal provides access to a rich array of publications and knowledge on asset recovery.
