About the UNCAC and Conference of States Parties (CoSP)

UNCAC, which came into force on December 14, 2005, is the most comprehensive and authoritative anti-corruption convention that is truly global. At the time of writing, 140 countries have signed the Convention while 134 have ratified it. The Convention obliges State Parties to implement a wide and detailed range of anti-corruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices, including international cooperation. The CoSP to the UNCAC is the instrument for the implementation of the Convention.  At the 2nd conference in Bali (Jan. 28 – Feb. 1, 2008) a number of priorities were established for the 3rd CoSP in Doha 2009, including a focus on prevention and review of implementation.  

In the UNCAC, “parliamentarians” are not referred to specifically (neither are “executive branches” nor “governments”). The UNCAC is designed to have the most general wording possible in order to be ratified and implemented by all Member States of the United Nations irrespective of their internal structure and division of powers) but do come under the term ‘public official’. At the same time the role of parliamentarians as part of the solution in the fight against corruption needs to be enhanced worldwide.