Special Session of the General Assembly Against Corruption

A/RES/74/276View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 106 Crime prevention and criminal justice, published in 2020.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2019–2020

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2020	A/RES/74/276	Special session of the General Assembly against corruption	1,614	23%Compare
2019	A/RES/73/191	Special session of the General Assembly against corruption	417	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

2 subjects

Conferences Corruption

What’s in this document?

23 operative paragraphs

Decides that the special session of the General Assembly on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation shall be convened for three days, from 26 to 28 April 2021, at United Nations Headquarters, in New York;

Also decides that the organizational arrangements for the special session shall be as follows:

The special session shall consist of plenary meetings from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m.;

The opening of the special session shall include statements by the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General, the President of the Economic and Social Council, the President of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime;

The plenary meetings shall include statements by Member States, States and regional economic integration organizations parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, observers to the General Assembly and, time permitting, a limited number of representatives from relevant organizations attending the special session, in line with subparagraphs (d) and (e) below, selected by the President of the General Assembly, in consultation with Member States, with due regard for geographical balance and gender equity; the list of speakers shall be established in accordance with the established practices of the Assembly,⁶ and the time limit for the statements will be five minutes for individual delegations and seven minutes for statements made on behalf of a group of States;

⁶In accordance with the established practice of the General Assembly, if there are speakers from other non-governmental organizations that are not in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, this should be considered by Member States on a non-objection basis.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council are invited to participate in the special session in accordance with the established practice of the General Assembly;

Recalling the established practice of the General Assembly, the President of the General Assembly to draw up a list of other relevant representatives of non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions and the private sector who may attend the special session, taking into account the principles of transparency and equitable geographical representation, with due regard for the meaningful participation of women, in accordance with the established practice of the General Assembly, and submit the list to Member States for their consideration on a non-objection basis;⁷

⁷The list of proposed as well as final names will be brought to the attention of the General Assembly. Where a name is objected to, the objecting Member State will, on a voluntary basis, make known to the Office of the President of the General Assembly the general basis of its objections and the Office will share any information received with any Member State upon its request.

Reiterates the central role of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption to improve the capacity of and cooperation among States parties to achieve the objectives set forth in the United Nations Convention against Corruption4 and to promote and review its implementation;

Also reiterates its invitation to the Conference of the States Parties to lead the preparatory process for the special session by addressing all organizational and substantive matters in an open-ended manner;

Invites all relevant United Nations system entities, including programmes, funds, specialized agencies and regional commissions, as well as relevant intergovernmental, regional and subregional organizations, to participate in the special session;

Requests the extended Bureau of the Conference of the States Parties to organize all actions to be taken by the Conference in preparation for the special session and to address all organizational and substantive matters in an open-ended and transparent manner, including by appointing facilitators for the informal consultations on the draft political declaration;

Also requests the extended Bureau of the Conference of the States Parties, in consultation with Member States, to develop a workplan and timeline to advance consultations on the draft political declaration;

Affirms that the intersessional meetings of the Conference of the States Parties on the preparations for the special session will be open to participation by all States parties and observers, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Conference and established practice;

Reiterates its request to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to provide substantive expertise and technical support;

Requests the Conference of the States Parties to produce, in due time, a concise and action-oriented political declaration agreed upon in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations under the auspices of the Conference for adoption by the General Assembly at its special session;

Also requests the Conference of the States Parties to hold a special session for the purpose of approving the political declaration for subsequent transmittal to the General Assembly for adoption at its special session against corruption;

Further requests the Conference of the States Parties to report to the General Assembly at its special session on the preparations that have been undertaken by the Conference for the session;

Reiterates the importance of an inclusive preparatory process, including extensive substantive consultations, and invites the Conference of the States Parties to hold up to three intersessional meetings, as required, to advance such consultations, encourages organs, entities and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, relevant international and regional organizations, civil society, academia and other relevant stakeholders to fully contribute to the preparatory process, in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure and established practice, and requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to collect such contributions, including specific recommendations on the issues to be addressed by the General Assembly at its special session, and make them available to the Conference;

Requests the secretariat of the Conference of the States Parties to prepare a report on creating synergies between the work and outcomes of the special session of the General Assembly and the forthcoming Conference of the States Parties to be held in 2021 and to present this report to the proposed intersessional meetings to be discussed and adopted by States parties;

Invites all Member States, observer States and observers to the General Assembly to consider being represented at the special session at the highest possible level;

Invites the President of the General Assembly to convene a high-level supporting event on the margins of the special session on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation;

Encourages the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, subject to the availability of extrabudgetary resources, to organize a youth forum to discuss ways for young people to contribute to efforts to prevent and counter corruption, and invites a youth forum representative, selected by the President of the General Assembly, to participate in the special session, including through the delivery of a statement on the outcome of the discussions at the youth forum, during the opening segment of the special session;

Reaffirms its decision in resolution 73/191 to conduct the special session and its preparatory process from within existing resources.

1 June 2020

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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