Australia signs the UNCAC Review Transparency Pledge

30 November 2023 –

Australia has become the 37th country to sign the UNCAC Coalition’s Transparency Pledge, voluntarily committing to a high level of transparency and civil society inclusion in the second cycle of the UNCAC implementation review.

The official second cycle UNCAC review process in Australia, which covers articles on preventive measures (Chapter II of the UNCAC) and asset recovery (Chapter V), was scheduled to begin in 2017. A country visit by peer-reviewing countries Iceland and Pakistan took place between 9-13 April 2018 with the involvement of other stakeholders, though it is unclear which ones. The self-assessment checklist and full country report were obtained through our Access to Information campaign in November 2022, and the Executive Summary, the full-country report and information on follow-up measures are available online on Australia’s UNODC country profile page.

The Transparency Pledge was signed by Australia’s  Attorney-General, the Honorable Mr. Mark Dreyfus KC MP. In its signature letter, Australia took note of the UNCAC Coalition’s Guide to Transparency and Participation in the UNCAC Review Mechanism, which outlines good practices of civil society participation to ensure a transparent and inclusive review process and communicated their willingness to improve their cooperation with civil society organizations from the UNCAC Coalition network.

Principles of Transparency

The Transparency Pledge covers the following principles, complementing the UNCAC Coalition’s guide which includes best practice approaches for promoting transparency and participation in the review process:

  1. We will publish updated review schedules for our country review
  2. We will share information about the review institution or the coordinator (focal point)
  3. We will announce the completion of the country review indicating where the report can be found
  4. 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
  5. We will organize civil society briefings and public debates about the findings of the report
  6. We will publicly support participation of civil society observers in UNCAC subsidiary bodies

Tracking Compliance

See the country review documents as they are published on Australia’s UNODC Country Profile page, or find all known details on the status of UNCAC reviews globally, the government focal point and the published documents, available civil society parallel reports, etc.,  all in one place – on our UNCAC Review Status Tracker.

All Pledge signatories’ compliance with their commitment can be monitored on our Transparency Pledge Compliance Map.