What is the civil society role in the different stages of introducing a convention once it has been adopted?

The steps in bringing a convention to life are discussed here. At each of these stages CSOs can play a role by bringing their case to both their governments and to the public.

National signature and ratification:
Civil society organisations can make an important contribution by pressing governments to sign and ratify relevant anti-corruption conventions. TI has been active in the past in promoting ratification of the OECD and OAS Conventions. It is currently working to secure signature and ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the African Union Convention.

National implementation into law:
In order to play a role in convincing governments to implement conventions into law, civil society organisations need to carry out their own research and analysis of existing legislation, policy and practice and its consistency with convention requirements. This can form the basis of proposals to government on changes needed and commentary on government positions. Civil society organisations can play an important role in influencing the interpretation of convention requirements at national level and, more specifically, in contributing to the government drafting process for legislation, regulations and guidelines.

TI National Chapters in many countries have commissioned experts to examine the legislative changes needed to comply with one or more of the anti-corruption conventions applicable in their region, including the UNCAC.

National translation into institutional policy and practice, including application and enforcement:
In order to play a role in convincing governments to translate convention requirements into policy and practice, civil society organisations again need to carry out their own research and analysis of existing institutions, policy and practice and their consistency with convention requirements. This can form the basis of proposals to government on changes needed as well as commentary on government positions.

TI National Chapters in many countries have commissioned experts to examine changes needed in institutional policy and practice.

Conference of States Parties:
The conference of states parties is a meeting of the parties to a convention convened to discuss important issues in relation to the convention, including procedures for follow-up. It is important that civil society organisations convey their views on follow-up and contribute to a public discussion.

Government self-assessment:
Civil society can help keep their governments "honest" by monitoring publicly available self-assessments and commenting on these, to the government itself, to the monitoring body and to the public. At present, these self-assessments are not made public as a matter of course in all review processes, but over time it is expected that this will become preferred practice.

In-country review and peer review meeting:
Existing peer review processes, such as those of the OECD, OAS and Council of Europe Conventions, allow for civil society organisations to make written and/ or oral submissions to the peer review process. The OECD process allows in its guidelines for civil society organisations to make oral and/or written presentations during the on-site visits that are part of the Phase 2 review process. In the OAS follow-up mechanism, civil society organisations may make written submissions and may also be heard in an informal consultation. On the other hand, the GRECO review process leaves it to the discretion of the reviewers whether to solicit civil society inputs, but this has become the regular practice.

TI National Chapters have played an advocacy role through inputs to monitoring processes of OECD, OAS and GRECO.

Published responses and reports:
The written reports produced through the OECD, OAS and GRECO (Council of Europe) peer review processes are published on the websites of the respective organisations. In the case of the OAS and GRECO review processes, countries have the option to request that the report is not published, but this is the exception. In addition, country self-assessments produced under the OAS Follow-Up and the OECD-ADB Action Plan’s review process are also published on a website, as are civil society responses to the questionnaire under the OAS process. An important role for civil society organisations is to publicise these reports and their conclusions and recommendations and to apply pressure for governments to take action to implement the changes required.

TI has been particularly active in publicising the country reports produced by the OAS Convention review process in the Americas.