Delegates from more than 120 countries are meeting this week in Doha, Qatar, to review implementation of the 2005 UN Convention against Corruption. Prior to the meeting, UN Radio's Derrick Mbatha sat down with Antonio Maria Costa, head of the
UN Office on Drugs and Crime. He says the conference is a chance to take stock of progress made by countries since signing on to the anti-corruption treaty.
Antonio Maria Costa
COSTA: The heart of the discussion will be emphasis on the mechanism of monitoring implementation. Because there should be an exercise of peer pressure whereby other countries examine what happens in any given country, mutually of course, in order to determine whether the commitments and engagements undertaken by ratifying the convention are actually followed on the ground.
MBATHA: And what does the convention specifically require of countries to do in the fight against corruption?
COSTA: There are four basic elements. The first one is about preventive measures. These requirements confirm the importance of screening public officials, looking at their wealth, looking at the financial disclosures they make. At times you have officials in some countries earning $300-$400 and driving Mercedes cars. We need to learn how this is actually possible and whether this is honest revenue. The second pillar is about criminalization, namely putting in place the right legislation to investigate and prosecute bribery and fraud and abuse of power. Third, we need the technical assistance which is to be provided to member states that are committed and sign up to the convention but yet do not have the resources for the domestic measures which are needed. The last pillar of the convention is about recovery of assets. We have launched an important initiative with the World Bank. It's called STAR, the acronym of Stolen Asset Recovery, helping countries to engage the financial sectors, the white collar criminals abroad that have been helping leaders to hide the proceeds from corruption. The idea is not to recover the assets on behalf of the country, but to train the officials from the countries to do that and therefore learning the intricacies of money laundering and promote the right international measures leading to the extradition of individuals if they are abroad, but especially the recovery of their assets.
MBATHA: If I may go back to the Doha conference, what is expected to come out of that meeting?
COSTA: I hope that the governments will listen to the Secretary-General's plea to engage in robust mechanism of monitoring implementation which would be based on peer review. There are a few recalcitrant countries, not fully committed, to all the dimensions of this monitoring mechanism. I hope that in Doha the large majority of member states will be able to convince the minority of member states to agree.
PRES: Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Producer: Derrick Mbatha/Dianne Penn
Duration: 2'36"
