Conference of The States Parties
Pursuant to article 63 of UNCAC, a Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) to UNCAC was established to improve the capacity of and cooperation between States Parties to achieve the objectives set forth in UNCAC, and to promote and review its implementation. UNODC acts as the secretariat to the CoSP.
At its different sessions, besides regularly calling States Parties and signatories to adapt their laws and regulations to bring them into conformity with the provisions of UNCAC the CoSP has adopted resolutions and has mandated UNODC to implement them, including through the development of technical assistance projects.
The CoSP has established a number of subsidiary bodies to further the implementation of specific aspects of UNCAC. The Implementation Review Group, which focuses on the implementation review mechanism and technical assistance, the Working Group on Asset Recovery, the Working Group on Prevention, as well as expert group meetings on international cooperation meet regularly in the intersessional period.
The first session of the CoSP took place on 10–14 December 2006 at the Dead Sea, Jordan. In its resolution 1/1, States Parties agreed that it was necessary to establish an appropriate and effective mechanism to assist in the review of the implementation of UNCAC. An inter-governmental working group was established to start working on the design of such a mechanism. Two other working groups were set up to promote coordination of activities related to technical assistance and asset recovery, respectively.
The second CoSP was held in Bali, Indonesia, from 28 January to 1 February 2008. As to the mechanism for the review of implementation, the States Parties decided to take into account a balanced geographical approach, to avoid any adversarial or punitive elements, to establish clear guidelines for every aspect of the mechanism and to promote universal adherence to UNCAC and the constructive collaboration in preventive measures, asset recovery, international cooperation and other areas. The CoSP also requested donors and receiving countries to strengthen coordination and enhance technical assistance for the implementation of UNCAC, and dealt with the issue of bribery of officials of public international organizations.
The third session of the CoSP took place in Doha, Qatar, from 9 to 13 November 2009. The CoSP adopted the landmark Resolution 3/1 on the review of the implementation of UNCAC, containing the terms of reference of the Implementation Review Mechanism(IRM). In view of the establishment of the IRM, and considering that the identification of needs and the delivery of technical assistance to facilitate the successful and consistent implementation of UNCAC are at the core of the mechanism, the CoSP decided to abolish the Working Group on Technical Assistance and to fold its mandate into the work of the Implementation Review Group. At its third session, for the first time, the CoSP also adopted a resolution on preventive measures, in which it established the Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on Prevention to further explore good practices in this field. The CoSP was preceded and accompanied by numerous side events, such as the last Global Forum for Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity (in cooperation with businesses) and a Youth Forum.
The fourth session of the CoSP took place in Marrakech, Morocco, from 24 to 28 October 2011. The Conference considered the progress made in the IRM and recognized the importance of addressing technical assistance needs in the Review Mechanism. It also reiterated its support for the Working Groups on Asset Recovery and Prevention and established Open-Ended Intergovernmental Expert Group Meetings on International Cooperation to advise and assist the CoSP with respect to extradition and mutual legal assistance. In addition to its main agenda, the CoSP hosted 19 side events, bringing together governments and different parts of society, such as the private sector, parliamentarians, anti-corruption authorities and civil society organizations.
The next sessions of the CoSP will take place in Panama in 2013, the Russian Federation in 2015 and Austria in 2017.
Read more about this topic: United Nations Convention Against Corruption
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