The United Nations Convention against Corruption entered into force on 14 December 2005; so far 140 countries around the globe have signed and 122 nations have ratified the document. In its eight Chapters and 71 Articles, the UNCAC obliges the States Parties to implement a wide and detailed range of anti-corruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices. These measures aim to promote the prevention, detection and sanctioning of corruption, as well as the cooperation between State Parties on these matters.

The first session of the Conference of States Parties (CoSP) to the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) took place on 10 to 14 December 2006 at the Dead Sea, Jordan. At this meeting government representatives discussed follow-up on the UNCAC and in the final decision they have committed themselves to establish monitoring system. The next CoSP that was held in Bali, Indonesia on 28 January to 1 February 2008 did not bring the targeted outcome, mostly due to the inadequate preparatory work by the Working Group on Review of Implementation and differing positions of States Parties regarding the shape of the monitoring system (one controversial issue was whether there should be civil society participation in this process).

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Conclusions from the civil society preparatory meeting in 2006.

Civil society has a vital role to play in ensuring that UNCAC makes a difference, both by contributing to the CoSP discussions on the implementation mechanisms to be adopted, and by holding national governments to account for their implementation of the Convention. To stimulate and support the previous conferences, Transparency International and the Coalition of Civil Society Friends of the UNCAC organised a number a of civil society meetings in connection with the CoSP, as follows:

8 – 9 December 2006, Civil Society Preparatory Meeting, Amman, Jordan
11-12 December 2006, Forum for Civil Society and Private Sector, Dead Sea, Jordan

The United Nations Convention against Corruption entered into force on 14 December 2005; so far 140 countries around the globe have signed and 95 nations have ratified the document. In its eight Chapters and 71 Articles, the UNCAC obliges the States Parties to implement a wide and detailed range of anti-corruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices. These measures aim to promote the prevention, detection and sanctioning of corruption, as well as the cooperation between State Parties on these matters.

The Coalition of Civil Society Friends of UNCAC has been created to support the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UNCAC Its members include

• Transparency International
• UK-based UNICORN
• Global Witness
• Oxfam
• Christian Aid
• Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) and the
• South African Institute of Security Studies

The 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference, which came together on 15-18 November 2006 in Guatemala, has unanimously adopted a resolution seeking to ensure the successful implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

This site provides practical information on the first official CoSP as well the related CSO meetings and calls for the registration of interested CSO representatives.