Fourth Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

I am honored to take part in this Annual Conference of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities and wish to express my profound gratitude to our hosts for organizing once again this significant event. I am sure you will agree with me that the commitment and leadership of our host country have served as the lifeline of this Association. I sincerely hope that our hosts will continue to nurture this initiative as it still needs their support.

 

The Association is now four years old and growing healthier and stronger every year. The impressive gathering of all of you here is tangible proof to that. But, as any four-year-old, it needs nourishment, care, attention and guidance. And this is a responsibility we all bear and all must discharge.  This Association is special: it brings together – it is a home, as it were, of – a variety of specialized institutions. They are diverse in their mandate, their structure and in the way they operate. But they all share a common mission: to prevent and fight corruption in a constantly changing environment. They also have in common a number of challenges because of the sophisticated nature of corruption and the inherent difficulty of finding the most appropriate ways to fight it. They also share the desire to learn from each other’s experiences (and perhaps mistakes), emulate successes and support each other in navigating often uncharted waters. This Association has the potential of providing such value for its members and this is one of the reasons UNODC fully supports (and will continue to support) this initiative.

 

Let us look at what needs to happen for this potential to be fully realized and for the added value of the Association to be maximized.

 

First, the Association needs to articulate its priorities and determine how it will pursue them. In doing so, it needs to take stock of what already exists, what are the needs of its members and how it will meet those needs.

 

Second, it needs to have a clearly thought out and realistic plan. The Association needs to capitalize on the expertise its membership possesses collectively, which is already impressive, and harness that expertise and the energy of its members to achieve maximum returns.

 

I am glad this Conference and General Meeting will take time to discuss a work plan. I strongly encourage all of you to look at it carefully. Enrich it with your ideas and join forces to make it a reality. A work plan, no matter how well developed, will not become a reality if you, the members of the Association, do not come forward and support it with your direct involvement.

 

The vitality of the Association is now more important than ever. Let us see why.

 

 We are gathered here almost one year after the historic third session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, held in Doha last November. I am pleased to see among us good friends and colleagues from Qatar, who will be joined later this week by Dr. Al Marri, the Attorney-General and President of the third session of the Conference. The success of the Conference and all other events held in Doha last November would not have come to pass without Dr. Al Marri’s leadership and vision and the selfless hard work of his colleagues. It is only fitting that this Association has decided to ask Dr. AL Marri to be a member of its Executive Committee. For me, it will be an immense pleasure and honour to continue working with, and learning from him in supporting this Association.

 

When we met last, on the occasion of the third Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities, we acknowledged that attitudes on corruption were changing, and we recognized that the United Nations Convention against Corruption was both a cause and an effect of this revolution.

 

Indeed, in its short existence, the Convention has endowed the global anti-corruption agenda with an unprecedented pace of determination. I am pleased to inform you that the steady ratification rate has brought the number of parties to 148. This is evidence of widespread eagerness to counter corruption while regarding the Convention as “the” tool for the job.

 

However, as it has been repeatedly stated, the ultimate success of the Convention will be measured by the ability of States to implement its far-reaching measures. The Doha Conference, which many of you attended, gave us reason to celebrate and opened new avenues for the way forward. The fourth session of the Conference will be held in Marrakech, in about a year’s time. It seems a long way, but it’s not. The preparatory work has already started – the road to Marrakech is already being paved, and everyone’s contribution, including yours, is of essence:　

 

Doha – a leap forward

 

We met in Doha on 9 November last year with a daunting task to accomplish: establishment of a robust mechanism to review the Convention’s implementation. Five days (and a couple of nights) later, we were able to register almost unexpected success (and sigh a collective sigh of relief).

 

The Conference surpassed all expectations. From a blank canvas in Jordan and a sketch in Bali, we created a sharp relief. There were many who were sceptical as to whether such a large and diverse body would manage to forge meaningful consensus around an issue as delicate and complex as the review mechanism. And yet, it happened. It happened because everyone, without exception, was committed to making the Convention a success, to overcoming concerns, doubts and fears and to take risks. 

 

The backbone of the Mechanism, a computer-assisted self-assessment checklist, was tested and proven successful. It will build a solid basis of evidence on which to make a credible review of implementation.

 

Last June, we begun operationalizing the Mechanism. The Implementation Review Group met in Vienna, completed the framework by adopting the guidelines for governmental experts and the blueprint for the country reports and carried out the drawing of lots. It distributed all existing parties over the initial four years of the first review cycle and selected the reviewers for the first 26 States which will undergo the review this year. Between September and last week, we organized seven training workshops for focal points and experts designated to carry out the reviews in the first year. We have also completed all initial tele- or video-conferences of the review teams and most countries under review are already hard at work completing their checklists. The first checklists have arrived and we are confident that the first two country visits will take place this month. The IRG will hold a resumed session from 29 November to 1 December and its second full session next May.

 

In Bali, the Conference showcased the range of technical assistance that is available and focused attention on where it is most urgently needed. Indeed, the self-assessment methodology to gather information on implementation efforts has proven equally useful to identify implementation gaps, and ensuing needs for technical assistance. The Conference in Bali went one step further, calling for the UN anti-corruption Convention to be the framework for co-ordinating donor assistance – the supply side.

 

In Doha, the Conference took a courageous and extremely important political decision on the crucial matter of technical assistance. It decided to abolish its working group on technical assistance and fold its work into the Implementation Review Group. This decision opens new avenues for technical assistance, putting in place a rational, well-thought-out process. The Review Mechanism will produce, through the checklist and its other phases, an objective identification, and prioritization of technical assistance requirements. The next step would be for the donor community (bilateral as well as multilateral) to make good on their stated commitment to invest the resources necessary to meet those technical assistance needs. I am sure that the Conference will have a very important discussion in Marrakech on this issue.

 

Doha – more than one leap forward

 

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

Indeed, in Doha the Conference of the States Parties covered more ground, making the road ahead more challenging – and its successful completion more rewarding. 

 

The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, widely known as the StAR Initiative jointly pursued by UNODC and the World Bank, recorded a high level of interest and the number of countries that want to take part in it is growing. UNODC and the World Bank will continue to focus on a number of cases in and develop experience that can be applied more broadly. This work will come at the heels of the successful completion and publication of a number of specialized materials and tools, in response to the high priority accorded by the Conference to the creation, accumulation and dissemination of knowledge.

 

A number of special events supplemented the official agenda of the Conference, making it more than an inter-governmental meeting. The special events held in Doha showed that the anti-corruption alliance is strong, the number of stakeholders is growing, but we need to work as hard as always on strengthening their shared sense of responsibility.

Principal among those events was the Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity, the sixth and last in the series of these events, which was devoted to the broad theme of public/private partnerships. 

 

A few months before the Conference, a number of CEOs wrote to the Secretary-General, expressing support for the Convention and asking him to exercise his good offices and influence to encourage the Conference to reach consensus on the creation of a robust review mechanism. The Conference delivered on this score and the Executive Director of UNODC addressed the private sector in his closing remarks asking business to match the determination of Member States and become more active in the common fight against corruption.

 

In Bali, a commitment has been made to align business principles with the values of the Convention. We were hoping that by the third session of the Conference there would be a mechanism in place to review companies’ compliance with integrity standards. In Doha, we hoped to hear from some chief executives about what steps they had taken, including measures to address “facilitation payments” and protect whistle blowers.　  We continue to work with the private sector, including through the UN Global Compact. We are seeking to impress upon the global business community that the time for declaratory compliance is coming to an end and the time to engage more concretely is upon us. This message needs to come from every corner and your support in your own countries and collectively as an Association is crucial.

 

We are encouraged by the support this issue, and the implementation of the Convention in general receive from the Group of 20. In a couple of weeks, the leaders of the G 20 will consider an action plan developed by the Anti-Corruption Working Group established recently as a result of the pronouncements of Toronto. I am grateful to France and Indonesia, the co-chairs of the Working Group, for including UNODC in this important endeavour, and look forward to the adoption and implementation of the Action Plan.

 

Building integrity - a daily responsibility for everyone

 

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Every session of the Conference of the States Parties breathes new life into the UN Convention against Corruption. But this precious instrument needs more than bi-annual infusions to stay alive. Building integrity is a daily responsibility for everyone. This is why I am pleased to participate in this conference of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities, which is integral part of this process. 

 

It is everybody’s hope that when we meet in Marrakech we can continue to celebrate major progress. But for this to happen, in the interim, we need more steps to strengthen domestic legislation and institutions. In this respect, I governments, as a matter of priority, should give you, anti-corruption agencies, the resources and independence you need to get on with your work.

 

While essential, however, your work cannot single-handedly foster and consolidate a culture of integrity. To be successful, your efforts are to be compounded by a society-wide commitment.

 

 

In that context, he Conference called for the widening of the anti-corruption alliance even further by, for example, enlisting teachers, from primary to business schools, to teach integrity so that the next generation will automatically say “no” to corruption. As I am sure you are aware, in a specially organized conference at the beginning of September, the International Anti-Corruption Academy was launched. We are pleased to have been involved almost from the beginning in this endeavour and will continue to lend our support to the new institution. 

 

Conclusions

 

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Let me conclude by saying as a result of the Conference in Doha we have turned yet another page in our collective work against corruption. We owe it to the world and the new generations to make sure that this new page continues to record success.