Vienna (Austria) - 17 April 2023 – Тackling the issue of corruption at all levels of society requires an effective multi-stakeholder approach. On 29-31 March 2023in Tashkent, UNODC, OECD and Regional Dialogue NGO convened a training aimed to build up the capacities of civil society organizations from Central Asia, Southern Caucasus, Republic of Moldova and Ukraine on two anti-corruption country review mechanisms, namely the Implementation Review Mechanism (IRM) of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Istanbul Anti-corruption Action Plan (IAP), which is a peer review programme of the OECD’s Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ACN).
During the training, participants learnt how they can contribute to the UNCAC and IAP monitoring processes: from providing inputs to the UNCAC Self-Assessment Checklist (SACL) and IAP monitoring based on the newly developed performance indicators, respectively, all the way to the final outcome report of the reviews and follow-up action. The participants also discussed good practices in strengthening their capacitiesin the area of anti-corruption and ways to improve cooperation on this important topic with the public sector. In addition, a separate session of the event was devoted to an OECD ACN Matrix – a database of high-level corruption allegations, and possible avenues of cooperation with civil society on this initiative.
Inclusive participation of non-governmental stakeholders in these anti-corruption mechanisms is one of the key priorities for the international community and is crucial in ensuring that the UNCAC self-assessment checklist as do the IAP’s performance indicators-based monitoring and the ACN Matrix reflect a more accurate picture of the state’s integrity system.
This is particularly relevant for the countries in Central Asia that are involved in the UNCAC implementation review process. Thus far, for example, the Uzbek authorities, have held a multi-stakeholder workshop on UNCAC, provided grants and convened two task force meetings in order to build up the capacities of civil society to meaningfully contribute to the review process. Civil society was also consulted in filling in the SACL and it is hoped that other neighbouring countries will follow this practice, making the reviews inclusive of civil society and as transparent as possible.
