UNODC supports South Eastern Europe in implementing the United Nations Convention Against Corruption

UNODC in cooperation with the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative (RAI) organized a multi-stakeholder workshop on the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and its Review Mechanism. The workshop brought together 28 civil society, private sector and government representatives from the Western Balkans (including Albania) and Moldova, as well as experts from the UNCAC Coalition and RAI for three-days of sessions and practical exercises aimed to build-up the participants’ capacities and knowledge on anti-corruption, specifically the UNCAC provisions, required to undergo and perform reviews as well as to address the observations emanating from the reviews.

More specifically, the workshop focused on Chapter II (Preventive measures) and Chapter V (Asset recovery) of the Convention that are being reviewed during the second review cycle (2016-2024) and included a mock review exercise to provide the participants with practical experience of the review of selected articles, country visit and observations.

Furthermore, during the workshop, participants discussed how Civil Society Organizations can be better involved in the implementation of the UNCAC, the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument that promotes the active participation of civil society in the prevention and fight against corruption.

Non-governmental actors can be involved in the UNCAC review process if invited by their government. Workshops such as this one are instrumental in encouraging this participation by building knowledge on UNCAC and creating a platform where participants can engage in a constructive dialogue on its implementation in their respective jurisdictions, share good practices and lessons learned.

The workshop was organized under the UNODC-RAI joint programme “Southeast Europe - Together Against Corruption (SEE-TAC)” (2020-2023) in cooperation with the UNODC Regional Programme for South Eastern Europe and funded by the Austrian Development Agency.