9 December 2015.

The UNCAC Coalition calls on all countries to demonstrate their support for transparency and civil society participation in addressing corruption by making a transparency pledge.

A growing number of countries around the world have already joined the UNCAC Coalition’s anti-corruption initiative and signed on to the UNCAC Review Transparency Pledge. This Pledge contains six practical actions to increase transparency and civil society participation in the Review Mechanism of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).

At the recently held 6th UNCAC Conference of States Parties in St Petersburg, country delegations from the Americas, Europe and the Middle East publicly declared their support for the crucial role of civil society in the fight against corruption. Members of the European Union also accepted a joint statement to promote transparency and participation in the upcoming UNCAC review cycle, beginning in June 2016.

Although Article 13 of the UNCAC recognises the importance of transparency and civil society participation in countering corruption, the role of civil society organisations is still under debate in international forums and at country level. The space for participation is shrinking in an increasing number of countries.

International Anti-Corruption Day is a great opportunity for countries to build trust and pledge to increase transparency and civil society participation in the UNCAC Review Mechanism.

The Pledge outlines six principles for countries to follow to ensure better cooperation between civil society and governments:

• We will publish updated review schedules for our country review
• We will share information about the review institution with civil society
• We will announce the completion of the country review indicating where the report can be found
• We will promptly post online the self-assessment and the full country report in a UN language, together with the executive summary in local languages
• We will organise civil society briefings and public debates about the findings of the report
• We will publicly support participation of civil society observers in UNCAC subsidiary bodies

For further information and resources visit the UNCAC Coalition website or contact Gillian Dell at email hidden; JavaScript is required.

The UNCAC Coalition is a global network of over 350 civil society organisations (CSOs) in more than 100 countries, committed to promoting the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).