Civil society participation, public accountability and the UN Convention against Corruption: December 2015

UNCAC Article 13 explicitly recognises the role that civil society can play in tackling corruption. That said, since the establishment of the UNCAC Review Mechanism, there has been debate amongst States Parties regarding the extent and methods by which civil society should be involved in UNCAC review and implementation efforts. The most notable manifestation of this debate is the exclusion of CSOs from the UNCAC Implementation Review Group responsible for overseeing the review mechanism. As this report demonstrates, over the first cycle of the UNCAC Review Mechanism, from 2010-15, the value of civil society participation has been demonstrated in practice, with CSOs involved in 85 per cent of the 114 in-country visits undertaken during this period,3 and many contributing their inputs via detailed UNCAC Civil Society Review Reports4 and other helpful technical commentary. This report reflects upon civil society’s strong capacities to contribute to anti-corruption efforts, highlighting good practices, lessons learned and opportunities for improved government-civil society collaboration. These reflections have led to the recommendations below that were addressed to the 6th UNCAC Conference of States Parties in November 2015 and aim to assist UNCAC States Parties in identifying areas where they can take concrete action.