International Cooperation

UNCAC – UN Convention against Corruption

From 6 to 10 September 2021, the UNCAC Joint Session, organized by UNODC, took place in a hybrid format at Vienna International Centre.

Right at the beginning, Somalia was welcomed as the 188th State Party to the UNCAC. The focus of the event was on the interim reports of the Implementation Review Group (IRG) and the activities in the context of the working groups "Asset Recovery" and "International Cooperation".

The IRG reported on the progress achieved in conducting the country reviews and agreed to continue to provide essential information from the country review reports.
In the area of asset recovery, there were high-level expert panels on deficits and challenges in the implementation of asset recovery provisions in the context of Article 53 of the UNCAC ("Measures for direct recovery of property”).
The working group on international cooperation dealt with the use of the UNCAC as a legal basis for intergovernmental cooperation in the fight against corruption. Furthermore, the working group participants shared best practices, experiences as well as proven approaches to seizing assets from corruption without a criminal conviction.

At this UNCAC Joint Session, it was announced that the 9th Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (COSP) will take place from 13 to 17 December 2021 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The Conference of the States Parties (COSP) is the UNCAC’s main policymaking body and supports States parties in their implementation of the convention. This year, the focus is on key issues in the fight against corruption, such as different aspects of the UNCAC review mechanism, asset recovery, international cooperation, prevention and technical assistance.