Transparency International (TI) and a broad civil society anti-corruption coalition have labelled as a major setback the failure of the international corruption conference on Bali to agree on how to independently assess country progress in implementing the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
Disagreement at the conference meant that concrete steps will only be decided at the next Conference on the Convention in late 2009, six years after the instrument was adopted. Civil society groups now fear a failure to build momentum and a downgrading of the Convention on political agendas. They characterised it as a disappointment for the billions of victims of corruption, who are meant to be represented by the national delegations at the UN conference.
Transparency International’s Director of Global Programmes Christiaan Poortman stated that, “without a robust monitoring programme, the UN Convention will fail to become an effective tool in the global fight against corruption. And with such a pressing need for action, and continuing severe consequences for the world’s most vulnerable, the world’s leaders cannot afford to stay in a holding pattern.”
See full Press Release.
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