Transcript Slide 1

Civil Society Participation and
Contribution to the UNCAC
Review Process
Towards Transparency – TI National Contact
Vietnam UNCAC Self Assessment Process: initial
stakeholders’ information and consultation workshop
23 May 2011
Overview
• What is TI/TT?
• Why is Civil Society Participation important?
• TI Engagement and Experiences from around the
World
• TI/TT plans to support the UNCAC Review Process
in Vietnam
What is Transparency International (TI)?
 TI is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against
corruption with its international Secretariat in Berlin.
 TI has more than 90 chapters worldwide, all of them are
independent Civil society organizations registered in their own
countries and internationally affiliated with TI
 TI raises awareness of the damaging affects of corruption and
works with partners in government, business and civil society to
develop effective measures to tackle it.
TI’s Guiding Principles
 Being independent and politically non-partisan
 Promoting institutional reforms, not investigating
individual cases
 Criticising constructively
 Engaging with government, business and other
stakeholders
 Building anti-corruption coalitions
 Combining research, advocacy and providing solutions
What is Towards Transparency (TT)?
 Towards Transparency (TT) is a Vietnamese non-profit and nongovernment consulting organization that was established in 2008 to
contribute to national efforts to prevent and fight corruption and
promote transparency and accountability in Vietnam.
 In March 2009, TT became the official TI national contact in
Vietnam.
 TT supports the execution and coordination of TI Vietnam
programme on “Strengthening Anti-Corruption Demands from the
Government, Private Sector and Society, 2009- 2012”.
Why is Civil Society Participation important?
 The Review Mechanism adopted by UNCAC state
parties encouraged governments to include civil
society and private sector inputs (Article 13)
 Civil Society holds an important role in providing
independent inputs into government implementation
of UNCAC and of the transparency of the review
process
UN Convention against Corruption
Article 13: Each State Party shall take appropriate
measures to promote the active participation of
individuals and groups outside the public sector, such
as civil society, non-governmental organizations and
community based organizations in the prevention and
fight against corruption
Why get involved in UNCAC review?
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Build public awareness of UNCAC obligations
Communicate expectations about performance
Enhance accuracy of assessment
Demonstrate role of civil society in anti-corruption
Create opportunity for civil society’s inputs reach
– Government
– National public
– International community
How to get involved in UNCAC review?
• Process issues: Advocate and monitor
– Transparency
– CSO participation
• Content issues: Monitor and advocate
– Access to information
– Implementation of laws and regulations
– Enforcement of laws and regulations
How to get involved in UNCAC review?
In the government self-assessment process:
Key advocacy goals
− Access to focal point
− Consultation on self-assessment
− Prompt publication of self-assessment
Recommended actions
− Inform government that civil society will produce a
report
− Advocate for civil society’s voice to be heard (be
consulted)
− Prepare inputs for self-assessment phase
TI Engagement and Experiences at
the International Level
• TI is working to make sure that civil society's voice is
heard in the UNCAC review process
– TI Secretariat (TI-S) is one of the founding members and
currently serves as the secretariat for the UNCAC Coalitiona global network of over 310 CSOs in over 100 countries.
– TI-S, in partnership with UNODC has run civil society
trainings on the UNCAC review mechanism and produced a
training video for CSOs
– TI-S is funding civil society organizations to prepare and
participate in civil society reviews
TI Engagement and Experiences at
the International Level
• TI also developed a number of tools- including a
questionnaire and report template to assist CSO’s to
conduct their own reviews
– Currently 30 CSOs around (including many TI chapters) are engaged
in using these tools to contribute to the UNCAC review process
– These CSO reviews are taking place countries which are in the first
or second year review cycle and will provide important input into
the overall review process
– TI is planning to prepare a consolidated report for each review year
to present at the Conference of State Parties and to the
Implementation Review Group
TI Engagement and Experiences
at the Local Level
• TI National Chapters and Contacts around the world
are ensuring inclusive participation in the UNCAC
Review process at the local level.
• Selected examples of TI chapters’ engagement in
UNCAC implementation and reviews:
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Mongolia
Taiwan
South Korea
Kenya
The Experience of TI in Mongolia
– Mongolia ratified UNCAC in early 2006
– Between 2008-2009, Mongolia participated in the UNCAC
Pilot Review programme
– TI Mongolia approached UNDP in Mongolia on the structure
of the working group, consisting of national experts, and to
discuss the role TI Mongolia could play in the UNCAC review
– The Mongolia Anti-Corruption authority acted as a focal
point, arranging an interview with the review group
– TI Mongolia presented to the review group the challenges
faced by the ACA and CSOs in the fight against corruption
The Experience of TI in Taiwan
• TI’s national chapter in Taiwan undertook a study on the existing
gaps between UNCAC (which Taiwan is not a party to) and the
existing anti-corruption legal framework in Taiwan
• The report and its recommendations were presented to the Ministry
of Justice (and released on the Ministry’s website) and to other
related government agencies. The chapter was also invited to
present its findings at a national meeting of more than 200
government agency executives
• Dr. Lung-Teng Hu, the principle researcher of the report and viceexecutive director of the TI Chapter in Taiwan was invited to serve as
one of the three external expert consultants of the Ministry of
Justice’s UNCAC evaluation committee
The Experience of TI in Korea
(South)
• After successfully campaigning for the ratification of
UNCAC by the Korean government, TI Korea is now
advocating for its implementation and monitoring
• TI Korea has also run monitoring activities by the Guards
of UNCAC, a youth network of university students, who
have set up a gap analysis programme on the
convention’s implementation and an online outreach
programme.
The experience of TI in Kenya:
TI Kenya participated in an analysis of the gaps
between convention requirements and the
country’s laws and practices.
TI/TT plans to support the UNCAC
Review Process in Vietnam
• In close consultation with GI and with the support of UNDP
Vietnam, TI/TT will produce a report summarizing comments,
inputs and recommendations from Vietnam’s non-government
stakeholders on the government’s UNCAC self assessment
process
• Our report draft will be based on inputs from non-government
stakeholders through:
− Consultation workshops
− Meetings and interviews
− Invitations for written inputs
Potential areas for review:
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Implementation of key UNCAC articles (chapters 3 and 4) into
Vietnamese Law
Status of enforcement of the provision on corruption-related
offenses
Status of typical cases
Access to information about prosecutions
Recent noteworthy developments in Vietnam
Summary of priority actions needed in Vietnam
The final scope (specific issues/key articles) of UNCAC for
review and comment will be decided with inputs from
stakeholders in Vietnam