international conventions/global priorities

Anti-corruption conventions and other international instruments

Welcome to the TI pages on international anti-corruption conventions and other inter-governmental anti-corruption instruments. You will find information and resources on various aspects of these agreements. At the bottom of this page you will find a list of international anti-corruption conventions and selected instruments, including links to a summary and to the full text.

Publications:

Transparency International Progress Report 2008: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
Transparency International's yearly progress report on the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention highlights improvements and setbacks in enforcement and in the fight against overseas corruption. This year saw the 4th report with findings from 34 of the 37 ratifying countries provided by experts and government officials through TI national chapters.
English

Transparency International Progress Report 2007: Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
Transparency International's yearly progress report on the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention highlights improvements and setbacks in enforcement and in the fight against overseas corruption. In its third year the report includes findings from 34 of the 37 ratifying countries provided by experts and government officials through TI national chapters.
English

Transparency International Recommendations for Review Mechanism for UN Convention Against Corruption
This report provides detailed recommendations on implementing an effective and transparent review mechanism for the provisions of the UN Convention against Corruption.
[English] [French] [Spanish]

Anti-corruption conventions :
What civil society can do to make them work

TI’s civil society advocacy guides about anti-corruption conventions in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East/ North Africa aim to assist civil society organisations in understanding the conventions relevant for their region and to help them in promoting ratification, implementation and monitoring of those conventions.

	Advocacy Guide: Africa (2007) French English

	Advocacy Guide: Americas (2006) Spanish English

	Advocacy Guide: Middle East (2006) Arabic

Anti-corruption conventions and instruments are of key importance in the work of TI. These texts, agreed by governments, recognise corruption as a worldwide and cross-border affliction, and express a high-level political commitment to addressing this critical problem collectively. They establish rules and standards (many of them binding) that promote domestic action and facilitate international cooperation. Many of them adopt a comprehensive approach to corruption, calling for a wide range of measures to prevent it, measures to punish it when it occurs, measures to check corruption-related money laundering and facilitate the return of corruptly taken assets; and measures to provide assistance to countries where required. The most comprehensive of them is also the most recent, the landmark United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) from 2003, global in its reach and with the most extensive approach to addressing the corruption problem.

It needs to be kept in mind that the adoption of anti-corruption conventions is only a first step. The key is sustained implementation by all participating countries. The most committed governments should remind their peers (who are proceeding slowly, reluctantly or with inadequate resources) that conventions are priorities. There is also need for citizens and civil society organisations to be active in pressing their governments and holding them accountable to convention standards. International institutions can help keep anti-corruption conventions high on the international agenda and provide fora for discussing progress.

TI and its national chapters have played an important role in promoting conventions from the negotiation phase through to monitoring their transformation into law and their application in practice. TI contributed to the negotiations for the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption. TI has actively promoted ratification, implementation and enforcement of the OECD and OAS Conventions, and is currently promoting ratification and implementation of the AU Convention. Transparency International has also contributed to the monitoring processes for the OECD, OAS and Council of Europe Conventions, and has developed proposals for monitoring the UNCAC, which will be followed by a campaign in support of monitoring. All of these activities are discussed in the pages that follow.

This website consists of the following sections:

The conventions explained section provides a general introduction to anti-corruption conventions and explains what anti-corruptions say, why they are useful and how they come into being.
To discover which conventions and other instruments apply in your region, please check the section on regional coverage.
To find out who is checking on your country's performance, choose the section on monitoring.
For ideas on how you and your organisation can help to promote ratification and implementation of relevant conventions, please see the section on advocacy.
The selected readings section includes books, articles, studies, reports, TI position papers and press releases on anti-corruption instruments in general.
The selected links section refers to websites that provide you with information about the different anti-corruption instruments.
A short description of current TI activities in the field of conventions can be found in the section on TI projects & activities.

International anti-corruption conventions and selected instruments

GLOBAL AND INTER-REGIONAL LEVEL

UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
Summary information
Full text

United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC)
Summary information
Full text

OECD Convention on the Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (OECD Convention).
Summary information
Full text

Revised Recommendation of the Council of the OECD on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions.
Full text

AFRICA

AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (AU Convention).
Summary information
Full text

SADC Protocol against Corruption (SADC Protocol).
Summary information
Full text

ECOWAS Protocol on the Fight against Corruption (ECOWAS Protocol).
Summary information
Full text

AMERICAS

The Inter-American Convention against Corruption (OAS Convention)
Summary information
Full text

ASIA

ADB-OECD Action Plan for Asia-Pacific
Summary information
Full text

EUROPE

Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention.
Summary information
Full text

Council of Europe Civil Law Convention.
Summary information
Full text

Resolution (99) 5 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Agreement Establishing the Group of States against Corruption.
Full text

Resolution (97) 24 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe: Twenty Guiding Principles for the Fight against Corruption.
Full text

European Union Convention on the Protection of the Communities' Financial Interests and the Fight against Corruption and two Protocols.
Full text

European Union Convention on the Fight against Corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States.
Full text