An Effective International Legal Instrument Against Corruption

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 105 Crime prevention and criminal justice, published in 2001.

What subjects does this mandate have?

12 subjects

Conference Facilities Corruption Crime Prevention Groups of Experts International Instruments Laundering of Funds Least Developed Countries Negotiation Report Preparation Terms of Reference Transnational Crime Travel Costs

What’s in this document?

9 operative paragraphs

Recognizes that an effective international legal instrument against corruption, independent of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime,1 is desirable;

Decides to begin the elaboration of such an instrument in Vienna at the headquarters of the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention;

Requests the Secretary-General to prepare a report analysing all relevant international legal instruments, other documents and recommendations addressing corruption,⁵ considering, inter alia, obligations as regards criminalization of all forms of corruption and international cooperation, regulatory aspects of corruption and the relationship between corruption and money-laundering, and to submit it to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at an inter-sessional meeting in order to allow Member States to provide comments to the Commission prior to its tenth session;

⁵See the annex to the present resolution for an indicative list of such legal instruments, documents and recommendations.

Requests the Commission, at its tenth session, to review and assess the report of the Secretary-General and, on that basis, to provide recommendations and guidance as to future work on the development of a legal instrument against corruption;

Requests the Secretary-General to convene, upon completion of the negotiation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the related protocols, an intergovernmental open-ended expert group to examine and prepare, on the basis of the report of the Secretary-General and of the recommendations of the Commission at its tenth session, draft terms of reference for the negotiation of the future legal instrument against corruption;

Requests the intergovernmental open-ended expert group to submit the draft terms of reference for the negotiation of the future legal instrument, through the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the Economic and Social Council, to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session for adoption;

Decides to establish an ad hoc committee for the negotiation of such an instrument to start its work in Vienna as soon as the draft terms of reference for such negotiation are adopted;

Invites donor countries to assist the United Nations in ensuring the effective participation of developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in the work of the intergovernmental open-ended expert group and the ad hoc committee, including travel and local expenses;

Requests the Secretary-General to provide the Commission and the intergovernmental open-ended expert group with the required facilities and resources to support their work.

Indicative list of international legal instruments, documents and recommendations against corruption

International Code of Conduct for Public Officials;⁶

⁶Resolution 51/59, annex.

United Nations Declaration against Corruption and Bribery in International Commercial Transactions;⁷

⁷Resolution 51/191, annex.

General Assembly resolution 54/128, in which the Assembly subscribed to the conclusions and recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting on Corruption and its Financial Channels, held in Paris from 30 March to 1 April 1999;⁸

⁸E/CN.15/1999/10, paras. 1–14.

Report of the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders; 3

Inter-American Convention against Corruption adopted by the Organization of American States on 29 March 1996;⁹

⁹See E/1996/99.

Recommendation 32 of the Senior Experts Group on Transnational Organized Crime endorsed by the Political Group of Eight in Lyon, France, on 29 June 1996;¹⁰

¹⁰See Economic and Social Council resolution 1997/22, annex I.

The Twenty Guiding Principles for the Fight against Corruption adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 6 November 1997;¹¹

¹¹See Council of Europe, Texts adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, 1997, Strasbourg, France, 1998, resolution (97) 24.

Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions adopted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development on 21 November 1997;¹²

¹²See Corruption and Integrity Improvement Initiatives in Developing Countries (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.98.III.B.18).

Agreement Establishing the Group of States against Corruption adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 1 May 1999,¹³ and the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 4 November 1998;¹⁴

¹³See Official Gazette of the Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers part-volume, No. V – May 1999, resolution (99) 5.

¹⁴Council of Europe, European Treaty Series, No. 173.

Joint Action on corruption in the private sector adopted by the Council of the European Union on 22 December 1998;¹⁵

¹⁵See Official Journal of the European Communities, No. L 358, 31 December 1998.

Declarations made by the first Global Forum on Fighting Corruption, held in Washington, D.C., from 24 to 26 February 1999,¹⁶ and the second Global Forum, to be held in The Hague in 2001;

¹⁶E/CN.15/1999/WP.1/Add.1.

Civil Law Convention on Corruption adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 9 September 1999;¹⁷

¹⁷Council of Europe, European Treaty Series, No. 174.

Model Code of Conduct for Public Officials adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 11 May 2000;¹⁸

¹⁸See Official Gazette of the Council of Europe: Committee of Ministers part-volume, No. V – May 2000, recommendation R (2000) 10.

Principles to Combat Corruption in African Countries of the Global Coalition for Africa;¹⁹

¹⁹See www.gca-cma.org/ecorrup.htm#prin.

Conventions and related protocols of the European Union on corruption;

Best practices such as those compiled by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the Financial Action Task Force on Money-Laundering and the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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