genderequalitygoals: LaPSe of Reason

Law, Politics and Sociology

February 1

Photo of Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu — Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu

This post is by Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu (doctoral research student at the School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex and associate editor of this blog). The post reflects upon the recent 10th session of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption Conference of States Parties, focussing on highlights and outcomes of the Conference.

CoSP10 banner — The 10th session of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption Conference of States Parties started on the 11 December 2023 and ended on 15 December 2023

Introduction

The 10th session of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) Conference of States Parties (CoSP), which started on the 11th of December 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America (USA), has come and gone with so much aplomb.

The CoSP ended on 15 December 2023 with over 2,000 government representatives from 160 countries and more than 900 civil society members and private sector leaders in attendance. Everyone was united in highlighting the critical need for global cooperation against corruption.

The CoSP is the principal decision-making body of UNCAC. Its primary role is spelt out in Article 63 of UNCAC. It is responsible for adopting resolutions and decisions to enhance collaboration among state parties to the UNCAC and to ensure that the Convention's goals are accomplished through encouraging and evaluating UNCAC's implementation. CoSPs are held every two years, and the presidency is rotated among state parties to UNCAC. The Rules of Procedures is the normative framework drawn from UNCAC and approved by state parties to guide the deliberations of the COSP.

Summary of the CoSP

The CoSP 10th Session was hosted by the USA, where Mr Richard Nephew, the US Department of State's Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption, was nominated as the President of the CoSP for two years, while his predecessor, Mr Amr Adel Hosni of Egypt stepped down after serving the position for two years.

Keynote speakers at the Conference's opening ceremony on 11 December 2023 included Mr Anthony Blinken, the Secretary of State for the USA, who highlighted that corruption primarily affects marginalised communities and that creating more transparent governments and inclusive societies is imperative. He encouraged cooperation between civil society organisations, the private sector, and other stakeholders to achieve the goals of UNCAC.

Her Excellency Linda Thomas Greenfield, the Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, noted that corruption is a cancer with dreadful consequences and adverse effects, especially in developing countries. She stated that advancing good governance, transparency, and accountability leads to expanding human rights, fundamental freedom, and peace. In contrast, unchecked corruption will lead to adverse impunity. She emphasised that the USA has made tackling corruption the primary focus of its foreign policy, as evidenced by adopting a national strategy on countering corruption in 2021 and a presidential proclamation restricting the entry of those who aid in corruption. She also reported that the USA has committed $252 billion in foreign assistance to combat corruption, to promote financial integrity and transparency and enforce the US requirement that beneficial owners report by January 1st, 2024. She further noted that the US has already recovered almost $1.6 billion in stolen assets from kleptocrats.

Other speakers were His Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly, Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, and Ghada Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In addition to the plenary, which consisted mainly of high-level representations from governments and observers from non-state actors, there were side events organised by governments and civil societies from across the globe on each day of the event.

Personal Highlights

My major highlights were the anti-corruption civil society organisation (CSO) pre-Conference event on 10 December 2023 and the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Day. This was the first time the CSOs were given a day dedicated to issues of interest to non-state actors. The UNCAC Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (UNCAC Coalition) coordinated the event. They brought together 900 CSOs worldwide to deliberate and negotiate for effective implementation of UNCAC measures related to accountability, transparency, protection of victims and return of stolen assets to countries of origin.

The StAR Day was held on 12 December 2023. I was privileged to speak at the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Day, organised by the World Bank and UNODC. My presentation topic was "Transparency and Accountability in Asset Return". I shared my experience developing innovative measures for the transparent return of stolen assets to Nigeria and other developing countries, why transparency is essential, and why countries should adopt it as an important principle in international cooperation.

Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu with Professor Elizabeth David-Barret and colleagues — Juliet Ibekaku-Nwagwu (far left) with Professor Elizabeth David-Barret (second from left) and colleagues

Outcomes

At the closing session, the UNODC Executive Director noted that the tenth session of the CoSP has sent an important message that the goals of the Convention are both timeless and timely and that there is so much potential for the Convention to have a more significant impact. She added that this Conference has shown "that the Convention is more relevant than ever in these times of fragile trust and challenges to the rule of law."

The events of the StAR Day included the Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR) Action Series and the launching of the updated StAR Asset Recovery Watch Database. This database is significant as data on stolen assets will be easily accessible. During the GFAR series, and in furtherance of efforts to implement Chapter V of UNCAC (asset recovery), France announced plans to initiate bilateral negotiation for the return of stolen assets estimated at $150 million to Nigeria while the USA plans to return the sum of $100 million to Malaysia and the sum of $100 million to Honduras.

The CoSP adopted twelve major resolutions and two decisions. The two significant resolutions were "Atlanta 2023: Promoting integrity, accountability, and transparency in the fight against corruption" and the Resolution on "Enhancing the use of beneficial ownership information to strengthen asset recovery".The two decisions made were to extend the Second Cycle of the Implementation Review Mechanism to June 2026, and, additionally, in line with the Rules of Procedure, it was decided that Qatar will host the 11th session in 2025.

Most CSOs believed that more could have been done to improve the outcome of the CoSP; however, they agreed that two significant resolutions will improve global efforts to combat corruption.

In particular, the UN Resolution on enhancing beneficial ownership underscored the importance of Guidance on Beneficial Ownership of Legal Persons issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in March 2023 and the changes made to Recommendation 24. The changes made by FATF require countries to ensure that information on beneficial ownership is accessed promptly and through a multi-pronged approach while adopting a risk-based approach.

Although FATF is primarily concerned about how competent authorities can access beneficial owner information for law enforcement purposes, the UN Resolution emphasises access to non-government bodies. To understand why it was important for the UN through the CoSP to adopt this Resolution, one must look to the binding nature of the UNCAC as a Convention already ratified by state parties, who may also be FATF members. Arguably, the Resolution will have a more binding effect than the FATF Recommendations.

Additionally, the Resolution built on was first adopted in 2021. The 2023 version highlighted the need for unique data from beneficial ownership to be made available for tracing, identifying, and recovering stolen assets – a subject of great interest to developing countries. To assuage the CSOs who campaigned actively for the revision of the Resolution, the 2023 Resolution now requires the UNODC to convene an intergovernmental meeting of experts to monitor the implementation.

Conclusion

The CoSP showed how international treaties can create synergy and make significant changes in global governance and cooperation through dialogue, diplomatic bargaining, and lobbying between civil societies representing citizens and states and among states. This is a crucial takeaway as I continue examining the application and impact of Chapter V of UNCAC.

Participation in this Conference has made me more confident as I write my PhD thesis. I found the sessions particularly engaging and insightful. I could see first-hand how state parties interact with each other and with civil society organisations to achieve consensus in international politics and diplomacy.