Conference Call Meeting 5 September 2013

Attendance

Shaazka Beyerle, Christine Clough, Gillian Dell, Saad Filali, Eric Gutierrez, Vincent Lazatin, Lydia Medland, Sokhema Nara (representing Kol Preap), Wycliffe Owanda, Ines Selvood

Agenda

1. Introduction of Wycliffe Owanda and Ines Selvood
2. Report back from the WG meetings
3. Advocacy efforts to date and plans going forward
   1. reports from each of the advocacy teams
   2. status of briefing notes
   3. discussion of process and next steps
   4. plans for statement and press releases
   5. OGP Summit and other key dates
4. Planning for COSP
   1. Report from “Actions” group
   2. Workshops
   3. Status of fundraising
   4. COSP participation (selection of who is going)
5. Status of fundraising for 2014
6. AOB

1. Introduction of Wycliffe Owanda and Ines Selvood

The group welcomed two new members:

Wycliffe Adongo Owanda is the Deputy Executive Director of the African Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG). He will be replacing Gladwell Otieno who decided to step down from representing AfriCOG on the Committee.

Ines Selvood is a journalist specialized in communications for social movements and researcher in transparency and access to information. She is now Director of Access to Information at the University of Buenos Aires. Ines will step-in as regional coordinator for the Americas ahead of the COSP.

For more information about Wycliffe and Ines please refer to the Coalition website where their short bios have been posted.

2. Report back from the WG meetings

Gillian and Maud were in Vienna last week to attend the Working Group (WG) meetings on Prevention and Asset Recovery. The primary objective was to talk to governments. An initial report has been circulated by Gillian to the Coordination Committee (CCC) already. In addition, Gillian elaborated on the following points:

• CSO representatives were not allowed in the meeting room for the two Working Groups. This generated some debate in Vienna that may continue at the COSP but we have decided not to let these process issues divert too much from our substantive advocacy objectives. Morocco expressed support for NGO participation in a statement at the WG on Asset to Recovery meeting. This was important because 1) Morocco is the only developing country to do so 2) Morocco is the chair of the Bureau overseeing the COSP. As a result all this discussion, the EU representative requested us to prepare a legal briefing on the subject which should be useful in empowering the friendly governments to make a case for us. Nigeria also asked us for a briefing on how to involve civil society in the meetings but avoid problems with fraudulent NGOs and misreporting by NGOs.
• An official report has been published by UNODC of the Working Group on Asset Recovery meeting with a small reference to the debate about CSO attendance. (Note: Gillian did not find the reference initially.)
• On the UNCAC Coalition statement, players from different regions were identified and approached. This included some of the Western powers (EU, US, UK, France, Canada) and also other governments like Morocco, Turkey, Japan, Nigeria, Ghana. Unfortunately it was difficult to establish contact with Latin American delegates largely due to the fact that some meetings with delegates were arranged already much in advance and others had to be grabbed on the spot. Also Latin America seemed less widely represented than other regions.
• Overall the discussions were rich and useful. Governments expressed support for certain Coalition Asks. In terms of our priority issues:
  • Access to Information: one delegate implied that we are asking too much and asked if we were seeking to amend the Convention. To be discussed in more detail with Lydia.
  • Beneficial Ownership: good discussions were held with the US, UK and Switzerland
  • Settlements: the US and Canada expressed some concern about the requirement that some portion of the settlement fine should go back to developing countries. There are voices in Nigeria that would like to see that but the delegates in Vienna did not seem particularly interested in the subject. The US is worried about a North-South divide on this issue at the COSP.
  • Asset Recovery: Our Asks are in general supported by the UK, US and Switzerland though some concern was raised about the second Asset Recovery Ask. The discussions were rather technical and Maud will report back in more detail upon her return.
• Overall progress was made raising our issues and getting governments interested. Some good relationships were built-up that could be followed-up.

Saad suggested that ahead of the COSP we focus more on mobilizing key countries in the Americas such as Brazil and Mexico (but also Argentina, Ecuador and others). Hopefully this will be possible with the help of Ines and Ezequiel. Gillian added that she made contact with Brazil at a dinner in Vienna but it was not the right moment to lay out the advocacy messages. We have good contacts with the government we can follow-up on.

Shaazka asked to clarify the purpose of the legal briefing on NGO participation requested by the EU and if it can be something to use widely? Gillian explained that this will have to be as legal and technical as possible in order to support our claim against Russia, China, etc. but it can also easily be translated into something more digestible for a wider public. A draft will be sent to the EU this week. Shaazka then added that the important points raised by some governments (like Nigeria who had reservations as there are a lot of fraudulent NGOs and they are afraid that what they say may be misrepresented back home) could be incorporated into the briefing.

3. Advocacy efforts to date and plans going forward

Gillian noted that efforts have until now focused on pre-WG actions. It is now time to look at the next phase “pre-COSP” for which we will need enhanced commitment from all CCC members in order to achieve all of our (very ambitious) advocacy aims. We need a serious joint mobilization and reach beyond the CCC to also get a wider group of Coalition members active.

Lydia and Kristi reflected briefly on their work ahead of the WG meetings and agreed to look at next steps. It was agreed that members of the CCC and regional coordinators will inform the Secretariat about the area they would like to work on in the next months and how much they can commit to that.

Eric noted that the COSP is not seen as useful as for example the G8/G20 even though the UNCAC is binding and the COSP has the power to make decisions. Media coverage at the last COSP was very disappointing. He explained that Christian Aid is thinking about some coordinated effort in November when the ministers of the Overseas Territories will be meeting in London (at the same time as the COSP).

In the interest of time some agenda items had to be skipped. Other issues that were discussed:

• Briefing notes: they are close to completion but need additional follow-up, Gillian will be in touch with authors
• Advocacy: The group agreed to have more discussions on how to broaden the advocacy
• Coalition Statement:
  • It will be translated into all UN languages. This is a lengthy process which has already started and all language versions should be available next week.
  • There are two options for launching it. Ines recommends a broader approach of making the statement public, possibly accompanied by shorter press statements.
• COSP participation: Gillian proposed that given the limited funding available the Chair, team leaders of advocacy groups and the AME regional coordinator should be confirmed as attending the COSP. The Secretariat is looking into further funding with current proposals submitted to the US, Finland and Switzerland so we do not have to rule out the possibility of more people attending. Given the already high ticket prices an initial booking for this limited group should be made. Vincent agreed and no one objected. Saad suggested everyone who would like to attend look for alternative ways of funding – perhaps those affiliated with bigger organizations may be able to cover their own flights?
• Side meetings at COSP:
  • Deadline to submit proposals to UNODC is soon for side meetings mentioned in the official programme – there are only few slots left
  • Gillian proposed a panel on the UNCAC review process where TI could present its UNCAC progress report. That panel would also allow to include a range of other topics (eg on access to data, issues in criminalization and enforcement, etc)
  • No members of the Committee disagreed with this proposal.
  • Gillian also suggested that any member that would like to organize a panel on a different topic should send their suggestions to her as soon as possible. It will be possible for groups to organize lunchtime sessions that are not listed on the official programme.
  • It may also be possible to place Coalition members into side meetings organized by others (eg.: StAR on asset recovery)
  • Vincent suggested something more “attractive and sexy” for the title of the Coalition side meeting but asked for some time to think of a topic

Action Points

• CCC members and RCs to send to the Secretariat:
  • which areas they would like to work on in the next month
  • topic of any workshop they would like to be in charge of organizing at the COSP
• Small teams to come up with advocacy plan ahead of the COSP
• Maud to write up notes from the WG meetings and circulate them to the CCC
• Gillian to follow-up with Morocco in relation to the statement supporting CSO participation in the WGs
• Gillian to send draft legal briefing note on NGO participation to the EU representative
• Gillian to follow-up with the authors of briefing notes on finalizing these papers
• CCC to determine ways to engage more with wider Coalition membership (target strong NGOs in countries where we might make a difference)
• Secretariat to start liaising with some CCC members for making travel arrangements to COSP