Stronger measures needed against illicit financial flows
– Vienna, 10 March 2022 – The members UNCAC Coalition and the below organisations and individuals express their solidarity with the people of Ukraine, currently facing a shocking attack on their country. The UNCAC Coalition is a global network of anti-corruption organisations committed to human rights and democracy.
We condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a gross violation of international law and human rights. It is an affront to the United Nations Charter principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity and non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, which are principles reiterated in the UN Convention against Corruption.
Too often, threats to international peace, security and human rights go hand-in-hand with large-scale corruption involving high-level officials, powerful oligarchs and international networks of collaborators. All those who profit from violations of the rule of law to the detriment of their own citizens and other peoples should be held to account, deprived of their ill-gotten gains and required to compensate the victims of their criminal activities.
In that vein, we call on all countries, and in particular those that host major financial centres, to take swift and concrete steps to stem the flow of stolen money and to trace and freeze illicitly-acquired assets. This should include establishing central public beneficial ownership and company registers, as well as transparency measures, especially in sectors at risk of capture by corrupt interests.
We stand with our member organisations – Transparency International Ukraine, the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC), and the Institute of Legislative Ideas (IZI), which have played important roles in promoting government transparency and strengthening the democratic system of checks and balances – and call on all relevant actors to protect the safety of activists and provide support to civil society organisations in Ukraine.
The members of the UNCAC Coalition’s Coordination Committee:
Helen Darbishire (Chair)
Gillian Dell (Vice-Chair)
Samantha Feinstein (Vice-Chair)
Shaazka Beyerle
Andrii Borovyk
Sankhitha Gunaratne
Cissy Kagaba
Chanez Mensous
Pisey Pech
David Ugolor
UNCAC Coalition member organisations and other endorsing organisations:
- 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative, Nigeria
- 5th Pillar, India
- Access Info Europe, Spain
- Accountability Lab, United States
- Africa Centre for Open Governance, Kenya
- Africa Freedom of Information Centre, Uganda
- Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Nigeria
- Al-Nahrain Foundation for Supporting Transparency and Integrity (NFTI), Iraq
- Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER), Albania
- Albanian Institute of Science, Albania
- Alliance Nationale des Consommateurs et de l’environnement, Togo
- Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda, Uganda
- Anti-Corruption Academy Foundation/Fundacja Akademia Antykorupcyjna, Poland
- Anti-corruption Action Centre AntAC, Ukraine
- Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa
- Armenian Lawyers Association, Armenia
- Article 19, United Kingdom
- Asociación Acción Ciudadana, El Salvador
- Asociación civil Japiqay, Memoria y Ciudadanía, Perú
- Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Argentina
- Asociación Costa Rica Integra (CRI), Costa Rica
- Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ), Honduras
- Association Burundaise des Consommateurs (ABUCO) – TI Burundi, Burundi
- Bahrain Transparency Society, Bahrain
- Belize PEACE Movement, Belize
- Bhutan Transparency Initiative, Bhutan
- Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, United Kingdom
- BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, Bangladesh
- Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Nigeria
- Center for Development and Democratization of Institutions (CCDI), Albania
- Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch, Nigeria
- Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, United States
- Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN), Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Center for Public Integrity – TI Mozambique, Mozambique
- Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria
- Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism – C4 Center, Malaysia
- Central Asian Research institute on Corruption and Money Laundering, Kyrgyzstan
- Centre de Recherche et de Formation sur le Développement Integré (CREFDI), Cote d’Ivoire
- Centre de Recherche sur l’Anti-Corruption, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Centre for Law and Democracy, Canada
- Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), Pakistan
- Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI), Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Centro de Gobernanza Pública y Corporativa, Inc (CGPC), Puerto Rico
- Christian Aid, United Kingdom
- CiFAR – Civil Forum for Asset Recovery, Germany
- Civic Alliance, Montenegro
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, South Africa
- Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigeria
- Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, India
- Coordinating Assembly of NGOs (CANGO), Kingdom of Eswatini / Swaziland
- CReDO – Resource Center for Human Rights, Moldova
- DATA Uruguay, Uruguay
- Derechos Humanos y Litigio Estratégico Mexicano (DLM), México
- Freedom of Information Center, Armenia
- Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo, Ecuador
- Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad, Argentina
- Fundación Multitudes, Chile
- Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo (FUNDE), El Salvador
- Fundación Poder Ciudadano, Argentina
- Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego / Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland
- Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Ghana
- Ghana Integrity Initiative – TI Ghana, Ghana
- Global Financial Integrity, United States
- Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, Switzerland
- Global Witness, United Kingdom
- Gong, Croatia
- Government Accountability Project, United States
- Gram Bharati Samiti (GBS), India
- Hivos, Netherlands
- I WATCH, Tunisia
- Impunidad Cero, México
- Indonesia Corruption Watch, Indonesia
- Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Albania
- Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Georgia
- Institute for Public Policy Research, Namibia
- Institute for Security Studies, South Africa
- Institute of Legislative Ideas, Ukraine
- Institute of Public Finance, Croatia
- Instituto Panameño de Derecho y Nuevas Tecnologías (IPANDETEC), Panama
- International Lawyers Project, United Kingdom
- Jordan Transparency Center, Jordan
- Journalist for Human Rights, North Macedonia
- Kemitraan bagi Pembaruan Tata Pemerintahan (The Partnership for Governance Reform), Indonesia
- Kosovo Democratic Institute – TI Kosovo, Kosovo
- Kuwait Transparency Society, Kuwait
- Malaysian Society for Transparency and Integrity – TI Malaysia, Malaysia
- Manushya Foundation, Thailand
- Mexicanos contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad, México
- Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Netherlands
- Observatório de Economia e Gestão de Fraude (OBEGEF), Portugal
- Open Contracting Partnership, USA
- Oživeni, z.s, Czech Republic
- Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Pakistan
- Participación Ciudadana, Dominican Republic
- Partners Albania for Change and Development, Albania
- Partnership for Justice, Nigeria
- Pro Public, Nepal
- Protimos, United Kingdom / Sub Saharan Africa
- Rights Jessore, Bangladesh
- Riinvest, Kosovo
- Romanian Academic Society, Romania
- Semillas para la Democracia, Paraguay
- Sherpa, France
- Social Watch, Benin
- Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Nigeria
- South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS), Bangladesh
- Studies & Economic Media Center, Yemen
- Syri i Vizionit, Kosovo
- Tearfund, United Kingdom
- The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity-AMAN – Transparency Palestine, Palestine
- The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Malta
- Tojil A.C, Mexico
- Transparencia por Colombia, Colombia
- Transparency International
- Transparency International Austria
- Transparency International Armenia
- Transparency International Australia
- Transparency International Bangladesh
- Transparency International Cambodia
- Transparency International France
- Transparency International Georgia
- Transparency International Germany
- Transparency International Moldova
- Transparency International Nepal
- Transparency International New Zealand
- Transparency International North Macedonia
- Transparency International Pakistan
- Transparency International South Korea
- Transparency International Sri Lanka
- Transparency International Taiwan
- Transparency International Uganda
- Transparency International United Kingdom
- Transparency International Ukraine
- Transparency Maroc, Morocco
- Transparency Mauritius, Mauritius
- Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute, Trinidad and Tobago
- UMTAPO Centre, South Africa
- Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, Germany
- World Society of Victimology, Canada
- Vouliwatch, Greece
- Water Governance Institute (WGI), Uganda
- Wildlife Justice Commission, Netherlands
- World Justice Project, United States
- Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, Yemen
Individual UNCAC Coalition members and other endorsing anti-corruption practitioners
- Alvarez T, Claudia – Dominican Republic, Activist
- Bejakovic, Predrag – Croatia, Senior Researcher, Institute of Public Finance
- Bornstein, Aaron – Netherlands, Corruption-assets Restitution Expert
- Carr, Indira – United Kingdom, Research Professor of Law, University of Surrey
- Esadze, Londa – Georgia, Senior International Anti-corruption Expert
- Henderson, Keith E. – United States, Adjunct Professor, American University Washington College of Law
- Loi, Kheng Min – Malaysia, President, Association of Anti-Bribery Management System Practitioners
- Nishitani, Makiko – Japan, Associate Professor, Kobe University
- O’Connell, Michael – Australia, Consulting Victimologist
- Olaya García, Juanita – Germany, Chair, UNCAC Coalition Working Group on Victims of Corruption
- Omar Alhatef, Taher – Yemen, Human Rights Activist
- Platzer, Michael – Austria, President, International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Solutions to Global Challenges
- Roht-Arriaza, Naomi – United States, Distinguished Professor of Law (emeritus), University of California
- Salcedo Albert, Tomás – Canada, Consultant
- Soloviov, Viktor – Ukraine, Expert
- Spakova, Andrea – Czech Republic, Advocacy and Campaign Associate, Manushya Foundation
- Su, Xuhong – United States, Associate professor, University of South Carolina, Columbia
- Syarif, Laode M. – Indonesia, Executive Director, The Partnership for Governance Reform (KEMITRAAN)
- Tsabala, Kristina – Bulgaria, Analyst
- Yeh, Kevin I. J. – Taiwan, Vice Chair of TI Taiwan
- Zaman, Iftekhar – Bangladesh, Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh
About the UNCAC Coalition
The UNCAC Coalition is a global civil society network of more than 350 organisations, committed to advancing the monitoring and implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). The Coordination Committee is the UNCAC Coalition’s Board.
Note: this statement was first published on 3 March 2022, signed by the members of the UNCAC Coalition’s Coordination Committee. It was then opened up for endorsements and re-published in the name of the UNCAC Coalition’s membership and other organizations and individuals endorsing it.
We may update the list of endorsing organisations and individuals.
Contact
Mathias Huter, Managing Director, UNCAC Coalition
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