.:: INTERNATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION CONVENTIONS ::.

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Participation in the UNCAC

The participation of the civil society is established in article 13 of the UNCAC:

Article 13

Participation of society
1. Each State Party shall take appropriate measures, within its means and in accordance with fundamental principles of its domestic law, to promote 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. This participation should be strengthened by such measures as: (…)
2. Each State Party shall take appropriate measures to ensure that the relevant anti-corruption bodies referred to in this Convention are known to the public and shall provide access to such bodies, where appropriate, for the reporting, including anonymously, of any incidents that may be considered to constitute an offence established in accordance with this Convention.

The Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Review of the Implementation of the UNCAC was created during the first Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) in 2006 to make recommendations to the Conference on an appropriate follow-up mechanism and its Terms of reference (TOR). It had five meetings. In the Consideration of draft terms of reference of the mechanism for the review of implementation of the UNCAC adopted during its last meeting between August 25th 2009 and September 2nd 2009, the Working Group recommended that “ the Mechanism shall provide representatives of civil society [having consultative status with the Economic and Social Council] and the private sector with formal channels for making contributions to the review process, in conformity with rule 17 of the rules of procedure for the Conference”. Nevertheless, in the TOR of the UNCAC review mechanism adopted during the third Conference of States Parties in Doha in November 2009, the former paragraphs about civil society and private sector participation were removed.

Before the UNCAC review mechanism was adopted, Transparencia Mexicana (TM) participated through Transparency International (TI) and the Civil Society Coalition (civil society organizations who work in favor of the adoption of a transparent, public and inclusive UNCAC review mechanism) in the elaboration of several documents presenting their position about the caracterictics of the UNCAC review mechanism.