CLCT Integrity Fiji (National Contact for Transparency International)
On September 3rd, CLCT Integrity Fiji organized a workshop on the United National Convention Against Corruption. Our meeting in Suva City Fiji coincided with governmental anti-corruption experts from around the world who met in Vienna starting on Sep 6 (and virtually) as three subsidiary bodies of the UNCAC Conference of States Parties to discuss UNCAC implementation, asset recovery, and international cooperation.
While CSO observers are not invited to participate in these bodies’ proceedings, country delegates have been receptive to constructive suggestions on how governments should move forward on implementing the anti-corruption commitments they agreed to in June 2021 at the UN General Assembly Special Session against corruption and through the Political Declaration it adopted.
NGOs in
Vienna received their annual briefing on UNCAC implementation from UNODC on Sep
7. This was an unusual (very rarely happens) opportunity for civil society to
formally engage with the UNCAC Secretariat and with interested States who
attended the meeting on how to advance the implementation of the UNCAC jointly.
The Vienna
meeting discussed concrete next steps to prevent and combat grand corruption ahead
of the 9th Session of the Conference of States Parties to the UNCAC in December
2021
MOOC
Anti-Corruption Course
CLCT
Integrity Fiji’s discussions of UNCAC follows the successful Massive Open
Online Course (MOOC) on Ethics and Anti-Corruption in Oceania that was offered
on Jan 15, 2021. This was a collaborative effort between the Fiji National
University (FNU) and CLCT Integrity Fiji. The course attracted 1,400
participants from Fiji and Pacific nations. Its main aim was to raise awareness
on transparency and good governance under the provisions of UNCAC.
FNU’s
Acting Vice-Chancellor, Dr William May, highlighted that corruption is a
serious crime that remains a key obstacle to the development of a nation. “The
development funds that should be dedicated to vital education and health care
are diverted into the hands of public officials and this impact’s the
government’s ability to deliver basic services, causing greater inequality and
poverty, if not managed well,” Dr May said.
The free
MOOC anti-corruption course is aligned to the Government’s ratified commitments
under the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and also aligned
to the push against corruption in Fiji, the Pacific and globally under
Transparency International’s policy commitments to Agenda 21’s SDG 16.
At the
UNCAC Workshop Samu Walosio and Grace Konrote who presented on Chapter 2 :
Preventive Measures noted the provisions of Article 13. Participation of
society in curbing corruption. It also enables CSOs to work with the Fiji
Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) in supporting the corruption
complaints mechanism to enable the public to report corruption incidents.
Article
13 highlighted the active participation of individuals and groups outside the
public sector, such as civil society, non-governmental organizations and
community-based organizations, in the prevention of and the fight against
corruption and to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes and
gravity of and the threat posed by corruption. It is appreciated that FICAC had
been very supportive of the MOOC Anti Corruption Online Free course offered
through the Fiji National University
In Chapter
III looking at “Criminalization and law enforcement”, Shalom
Tehillatti and Maria Yavala noted that Article 33 looks specifically at the Protection
of reporting persons
Each
State Party shall consider incorporating into its domestic legal system appropriate
measures to provide protection against any unjustified treatment for any person
who reports in good faith and on reasonable grounds to the competent
authorities any facts concerning offences established in accordance with this
Convention
There is
often a disjoint between what is written in our laws about the protection of
whistleblowers and the actual practice of enforcing it. This is an area that
needs to be strengthened.
CLCT
Integrity Fiji will work closely with FICAC, Government agencies, corporate
bodies and civil society to advocate on transparency, accountability and anti-corruption
messages and interventions under the provisions of UNCAC.
Here
are some papers from the UNCAC Civil Society Coalition that will be of great
interest.
https://uncaccoalition.org/12th-irg-submission-advancing-uncac-implementation/
https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/IRG/session12-first-resumed.html
https://uncaccoalition.org/12th-irg-submission-advancing-the-implementation-of-commitments/
https://uncaccoalition.org/recognizing-victims-of-corruption/
https://uncaccoalition.org/12th-irg-submission-tackling-corruption-related-to-environmental-crimes/
The UNCAC Coalition is the global civil society network for the implementation and monitoring of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)
Do you
have relevant news or a success story linked to the UNCAC that you would like
to feature in the next newsletter? Send an email with the subject line
"Newsletter" at info@uncaccoalition.org
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