UNCAC Coalition stands in solidarity with Ukraine

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:

  1. 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative, Nigeria
  2. 5th Pillar, India
  3. Access Info Europe, Spain
  4. Accountability Lab, United States
  5. Africa Centre for Open Governance, Kenya
  6. Africa Freedom of Information Centre, Uganda
  7. Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Nigeria
  8. Al-Nahrain Foundation for Supporting Transparency and Integrity (NFTI), Iraq
  9. Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER), Albania
  10. Albanian Institute of Science, Albania
  11. Alliance Nationale des Consommateurs et de l’environnement, Togo
  12. Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda, Uganda
  13. Anti-Corruption Academy Foundation/Fundacja Akademia Antykorupcyjna, Poland
  14. Anti-corruption Action Centre AntAC, Ukraine
  15. Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa
  16. Armenian Lawyers Association, Armenia
  17. Article 19, United Kingdom
  18. Asociación Acción Ciudadana, El Salvador
  19. Asociación civil Japiqay, Memoria y Ciudadanía, Perú
  20. Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Argentina
  21. Asociación Costa Rica Integra (CRI), Costa Rica
  22. Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ), Honduras
  23. Association Burundaise des Consommateurs (ABUCO) – TI Burundi, Burundi
  24. Bahrain Transparency Society, Bahrain
  25. Belize PEACE Movement, Belize
  26. Bhutan Transparency Initiative, Bhutan
  27. Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, United Kingdom
  28. BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, Bangladesh
  29. Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Nigeria
  30. Center for Development and Democratization of Institutions (CCDI), Albania
  31. Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch, Nigeria
  32. Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, United States
  33. Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN), Bosnia and Herzegovina
  34. Center for Public Integrity – TI Mozambique, Mozambique
  35. Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria
  36. Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism – C4 Center, Malaysia
  37. Central Asian Research institute on Corruption and Money Laundering, Kyrgyzstan
  38. Centre de Recherche et de Formation sur le Développement Integré (CREFDI), Cote d’Ivoire
  39. Centre de Recherche sur l’Anti-Corruption, Democratic Republic of the Congo
  40. Centre for Law and Democracy, Canada
  41. Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), Pakistan
  42. Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI), Bosnia and Herzegovina
  43. Centro de Gobernanza Pública y Corporativa, Inc (CGPC), Puerto Rico
  44. Christian Aid, United Kingdom
  45. CiFAR – Civil Forum for Asset Recovery, Germany
  46. Civic Alliance, Montenegro
  47. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, South Africa 
  48. Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigeria
  49. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, India
  50. Coordinating Assembly of NGOs (CANGO), Kingdom of Eswatini / Swaziland
  51. CReDO –  Resource Center for Human Rights, Moldova
  52. DATA Uruguay, Uruguay
  53. Derechos Humanos y Litigio Estratégico Mexicano (DLM), México
  54. Freedom of Information Center, Armenia
  55. Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo, Ecuador
  56. Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad, Argentina
  57. Fundación Multitudes, Chile
  58. Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo (FUNDE), El Salvador
  59. Fundación Poder Ciudadano, Argentina
  60. Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego / Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland
  61. Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Ghana
  62. Ghana Integrity Initiative – TI  Ghana, Ghana
  63. Global Financial Integrity, United States
  64. Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, Switzerland
  65. Global Witness, United Kingdom
  66. Gong, Croatia
  67. Government Accountability Project, United States
  68. Gram Bharati Samiti (GBS), India
  69. Hivos, Netherlands
  70. I WATCH, Tunisia
  71. Impunidad Cero, México
  72. Indonesia Corruption Watch, Indonesia
  73. Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Albania
  74. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Georgia
  75. Institute for Public Policy Research, Namibia
  76. Institute for Security Studies, South Africa
  77. Institute of Legislative Ideas, Ukraine
  78. Institute of Public Finance, Croatia
  79. Instituto Panameño de Derecho y Nuevas Tecnologías (IPANDETEC), Panama
  80. International Lawyers Project, United Kingdom
  81. Jordan Transparency Center, Jordan
  82. Journalist for Human Rights, North Macedonia
  83. Kemitraan bagi Pembaruan Tata Pemerintahan (The Partnership for Governance Reform), Indonesia
  84. Kosovo Democratic Institute – TI Kosovo, Kosovo
  85. Kuwait Transparency Society, Kuwait
  86. Malaysian Society for Transparency and Integrity – TI Malaysia, Malaysia
  87. Manushya Foundation, Thailand
  88. Mexicanos contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad, México
  89. Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Netherlands
  90. Observatório de Economia e Gestão de Fraude (OBEGEF), Portugal
  91. Open Contracting Partnership, USA
  92. Oživeni, z.s, Czech Republic
  93. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Pakistan
  94.  Participación Ciudadana, Dominican Republic
  95.  Partners Albania for Change and Development, Albania
  96.  Partnership for Justice, Nigeria
  97.  Pro Public, Nepal
  98. Protimos, United Kingdom / Sub Saharan Africa
  99. Rights Jessore, Bangladesh
  100. Riinvest, Kosovo
  101. Romanian Academic Society, Romania
  102. Semillas para la Democracia, Paraguay
  103. Sherpa, France
  104. Social Watch, Benin
  105. Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Nigeria
  106. South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS), Bangladesh
  107. Studies & Economic Media Center, Yemen
  108. Syri i Vizionit, Kosovo
  109. Tearfund, United Kingdom
  110. The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity-AMAN – Transparency Palestine, Palestine
  111. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Malta
  112. Tojil A.C, Mexico
  113. Transparencia por Colombia, Colombia
  114. Transparency International 
  115. Transparency International Austria
  116. Transparency International Armenia
  117. Transparency International Australia
  118. Transparency International Bangladesh
  119. Transparency International Cambodia
  120. Transparency International France
  121. Transparency International Georgia
  122. Transparency International Germany
  123. Transparency International Moldova
  124. Transparency International Nepal
  125. Transparency International New Zealand
  126. Transparency International North Macedonia
  127. Transparency International Pakistan
  128. Transparency International South Korea
  129. Transparency International Sri Lanka
  130. Transparency International Taiwan
  131. Transparency International Uganda
  132. Transparency International United Kingdom
  133. Transparency International Ukraine
  134. Transparency Maroc, Morocco
  135. Transparency Mauritius, Mauritius
  136. Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute, Trinidad and Tobago 
  137. UMTAPO Centre, South Africa
  138. Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, Germany
  139. World Society of Victimology, Canada
  140. Vouliwatch, Greece
  141. Water Governance Institute (WGI), Uganda
  142. Wildlife Justice Commission, Netherlands
  143. World Justice Project, United States
  144. Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, Yemen

Individual UNCAC Coalition members and other endorsing anti-corruption practitioners

  1. Alvarez T, Claudia – Dominican Republic, Activist
  2. Bejakovic, Predrag – Croatia, Senior Researcher, Institute of Public Finance
  3. Bornstein, Aaron – Netherlands, Corruption-assets Restitution Expert
  4. Carr, Indira – United Kingdom, Research Professor of Law, University of Surrey
  5. Esadze, Londa – Georgia, Senior International Anti-corruption Expert
  6. Henderson, Keith E. – United States, Adjunct Professor, American University Washington College of Law
  7. Loi, Kheng Min – Malaysia, President, Association of Anti-Bribery Management System Practitioners 
  8. Nishitani, Makiko – Japan, Associate Professor, Kobe University
  9. O’Connell, Michael – Australia, Consulting Victimologist
  10. Olaya García, Juanita – Germany, Chair, UNCAC Coalition Working Group on Victims of Corruption
  11. Omar Alhatef, Taher – Yemen, Human Rights Activist
  12. Platzer, Michael – Austria, President, International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Solutions to Global Challenges
  13. Roht-Arriaza, Naomi – United States, Distinguished Professor of Law (emeritus), University of California
  14. Salcedo Albert, Tomás – Canada, Consultant
  15. Soloviov, Viktor – Ukraine, Expert
  16. Spakova, Andrea – Czech Republic, Advocacy and Campaign Associate, Manushya Foundation
  17. Su, Xuhong – United States, Associate professor, University of South Carolina, Columbia
  18. Syarif, Laode M. – Indonesia, Executive Director, The Partnership for Governance Reform (KEMITRAAN)
  19. Tsabala, Kristina – Bulgaria, Analyst
  20. Yeh, Kevin I. J. – Taiwan, Vice Chair of TI Taiwan
  21. 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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