global priorities/international conventions

Anti-corruption conventions and other international instruments

Welcome to the TI pages on international anti-corruption conventions and other inter-governmental anti-corruption instruments. You will find information and resources on various aspects of these agreements. At the bottom of this page you will find a list of international anti-corruption conventions and selected instruments, including links to a summary and to the full text.

Publications:

The First Year of the UN Convention Against Corruption: A Civil Society Perspective

The aim of this overview report is to provide complementary information to assist the UNCAC review process that started up in July 2010. The report makes findings, conclusions and recommendations about the UNCAC review mechanism and the first year of the review process. In particular it stresses the importance of civil society participation and transparency in the review process at all levels. It also surveys selected implementation issues under UNCAC Chapters III and IV identified in the thirteen CSO country reports prepared as inputs to the first and second years of the review process.”

[English]

Transparency International Progress report 2011: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
This is the seventh annual Progress Report on Enforcement of the OECD Convention prepared by Transparency International (TI), the global coalition against corruption. The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, adopted in 1997, requires each State Party to make foreign bribery a crime. The Convention has 38 parties and is overseen by the OECD Working Group on Bribery. The Working Group conducts a follow-up monitoring process under which representatives of two governments and the Secretariat visit each member country and assess its compliance with the Convention’s provisions. The monitoring process is now in its third phase, which focuses primarily on enforcement and on the steps which countries have taken to follow up on recommendations in prior reviews.

[English]

Transparency International Progress Report 2010: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
This is the sixth annual Progress Report on Enforcement of the OECD Convention prepared by Transparency International (TI), the global coalition against corruption. The OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Offi cials in International Business Transactions, adopted in 1997, required each party to make foreign bribery a crime. The Convention was hailed as key to overcoming the damaging effects of foreign bribery on democratic institutions, development programmes and business competition.

[English]

UNCAC Second Coalition Statement
Coalition calls for robust UNCAC review mechanism
[English][French][Spanish][Chinese][Arabic] [list of signatories]

UNCAC Review Mechanism: Urgency of action in Doha
An effective review mechanism for the UNCAC is needed to ensure implementation by governments. During the past two years an Inter-Governmental Group has sought to develop a consensus on the review mechanism and its terms of reference. However, a small number of governments have been blocking agreement on several critical issues. It is essential that the deadlock be resolved at the Third Conference of States Parties meeting in Doha in November 2009.
[English]

Transparency is Key in the UNCAC Review Mechanism
One key issue to be resolved for the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the transparency of the proposed review process. Of particular concern is whether individual country reports and recommendations will be made public. The outcome on this issue is of major importance to the credibility of the review process and of the Convention itself.
[English]

Civil Society Participation is Essential for UNCAC Review
Civil society participation is essential to ensure the credibility of the review process that is being proposed for the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). With discussions underway by Convention signatories about the structure of the process, it is critical that they support and endorse the role of civil society in reviewing UNCAC implementation.
[English]

Transparency International Progress Report 2009: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
This is the fifth annual Progress Report on Enforcement of the OECD Convention prepared by Transparency International. The 2009 report covers 36 of the 38 parties. It shows that enforcement has been extremely uneven.
[English]

2009 TI Recommendations for an UNCAC Review Mechanism
This report provides TI’s latest recommendations for the establishment of an effective review mechanism for the UN Convention against Corruption.
[English][French][Spanish][Arabic][Chinese]
View, navigate or download this Report as E-Book.

Transparency International Progress Report 2008: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
Transparency International's yearly progress report on the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention highlights improvements and setbacks in enforcement and in the fight against overseas corruption. This year saw the 4th report with findings from 34 of the 37 ratifying countries provided by experts and government officials through TI national chapters.
English

Anti-corruption conventions :
What civil society can do to make them work

TI’s civil society advocacy guides about anti-corruption conventions in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East/ North Africa aim to assist civil society organisations in understanding the conventions relevant for their region and to help them in promoting ratification, implementation and monitoring of those conventions.

Anti-corruption conventions and instruments are of key importance in the work of TI. These texts, agreed by governments, recognise corruption as a worldwide and cross-border affliction, and express a high-level political commitment to addressing this critical problem collectively. They establish rules and standards (many of them binding) that promote domestic action and facilitate international cooperation. Many of them adopt a comprehensive approach to corruption, calling for a wide range of measures to prevent it, measures to punish it when it occurs, measures to check corruption-related money laundering and facilitate the return of corruptly taken assets; and measures to provide assistance to countries where required. The most comprehensive of them is also the most recent, the landmark United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) from 2003, global in its reach and with the most extensive approach to addressing the corruption problem.

It needs to be kept in mind that the adoption of anti-corruption conventions is only a first step. The key is sustained implementation by all participating countries. The most committed governments should remind their peers (who are proceeding slowly, reluctantly or with inadequate resources) that conventions are priorities. There is also need for citizens and civil society organisations to be active in pressing their governments and holding them accountable to convention standards. International institutions can help keep anti-corruption conventions high on the international agenda and provide fora for discussing progress.

TI and its national chapters have played an important role in promoting conventions from the negotiation phase through to monitoring their transformation into law and their application in practice. TI contributed to the negotiations for the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. TI has actively promoted ratification, implementation and enforcement of the OECD and OAS Conventions, and is currently promoting ratification and implementation of the AU Convention. Transparency International has also contributed to the monitoring processes for the OECD, OAS and Council of Europe Conventions, and has developed proposals for monitoring the UNCAC, which will be followed by a campaign in support of monitoring. All of these activities are discussed in the pages that follow.

This website consists of the following sections:

The conventions explained section provides a general introduction to anti-corruption conventions and explains what anti-corruptions say, why they are useful and how they come into being.
To discover which conventions and other instruments apply in your region, please check the section on regional coverage.
To find out who is checking on your country's performance, choose the section on monitoring.
For ideas on how you and your organisation can help to promote ratification and implementation of relevant conventions, please see the section on advocacy.
The selected readings section includes books, articles, studies, reports, TI position papers and press releases on anti-corruption instruments in general.
The selected links section refers to websites that provide you with information about the different anti-corruption instruments.
A short description of current TI activities in the field of conventions can be found in the section on TI projects & activities.

International anti-corruption conventions and selected instruments

GLOBAL AND INTER-REGIONAL LEVEL

UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
Summary information
Full text

United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC)
Summary information
Full text

OECD Convention on the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Convention).
Summary information
Full text

Revised Recommendation of the Council of the OECD on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions.
Full text

AFRICA

AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AU Convention).
Summary information
Full text

SADC Protocol against Corruption (SADC Protocol).
Summary information
Full text

ECOWAS Protocol on the Fight against Corruption (ECOWAS Protocol).
Summary information
Full text

AMERICAS

The Inter-American Convention against Corruption (OAS Convention)
Summary information
Full text

ASIA

ADB-OECD Action Plan for Asia-Pacific
Summary information
Full text

EUROPE

Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention.
Summary information
Full text

Council of Europe Civil Law Convention.
Summary information
Full text

Resolution (99) 5 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Agreement Establishing the Group of States against Corruption.
Full text

Resolution (97) 24 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Twenty Guiding Principles for the Fight against Corruption.
Full text

European Union Convention on the Protection of the Communities' Financial Interests and the Fight against Corruption and two Protocols.
Full text