United Nations Convention Against Corruption - Essay Example

     “UNITED NATION CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION” (Your teacher’s due 1 Introduction United Nations convention against corruption was evolved in 2003. It has achieved many remarks on the efforts of international anti- corruption. UNCAC have offered a wide framework of dealing with corruption and have represented with the signatories of 140 states. This convention had laid standards for national policies and has enhanced International Corporation to identify all cross boarder crimes. All the countries that had rectified the convention helps each other to take preventive measures against corruption by providing technical assistance, financial resources, research and training. 1.2 Background This convention was endorsed by various countries, which was a great achievement.

A whole negotiation process was considered in the UN office on the action on crimes and drugs prevention. All assets were recovered by the assistance provided by China. Diplomats helped to get an independent judiciary, transparent public procurement and civil services. Convention addresses all these things. Some of its provisions are strongly encouraged while others are optional. This convention led to an interesting development i.e. corruption was not just confined to text. It keeps on emerging with different actions; therefore it was decided to focus on all the acts that can lead to corruption.

In this convention all negotiators agreed to be public servants (Langseth, 2003). 1.3 Provisions and measures United Nations convention against corruption include five areas i.e. criminalization, technical assistance, prevention, asset recovery and international cooperation. All state parties are obliged to follow anti corruption polices laid by this convention. However, many people have claimed that convention does not need any independent corruption commission (Schultz, 2007). Criminalization All states should take specific actions against commercialization which should include foreign and international affairs, bribery in a nation and misuse of public funds.

Other crimes may include transfer of criminal money, hindrance of justice, misuse of other assets etc. Sanctions are issued to those people who are involved in corrupt actions. It also imputes that action should be taken against those individuals whose assets does not comply with their income such as a district officer lives in a mansion and have a Mercedes. This thing has provided an alert to advocates and lawyers, that these people are harming purity of the legal system. Many people have argued that they have a burden to show proof in relation to the doubts of such criminal acts.

There is a lack in legal system to identify the accumulation of such wealth. Technical assistance Technical assistance mainly means providing support to countries in order to fulfill UNCAC’s requirements. This convention includes provision on information sharing, human resource, training and research. Training may include financial management of public, investigating methods to prevent corruption and methods to protect witness and victims in criminal cases. Therefore, all states should help each other in research and evaluation on the causes and cost of all corruption activities.

This will help to solve these problems more efficiently rather than dealing with them alone. Prevention Parties of state are liable to implement appropriate measures to prevent corruption both in private and public sectors. This should include procedures of auditing, transparent procurement systems, involvement of civil society in various corruption measures, elimination of secret laws and independent judiciary systems. Asset recovery One of the most important principles of this convention is to recover stolen assets of the state and this is the reason that many states have signed this convention.

Such as in Swiss courts there is a case on Sani Abaca, who possesses $5 billion funds of public; court is trying to recover that from him. If this fund is received, it can be used for the development of the country. Its provisions provide a framework in criminal and civil law, freezing, tracking, returning funds received through criminal activities. Therefore, requesting state will be able to receive all its assets unless it proves ownership on those assets. However, in some cases they are returned directly to the individuals to whom they belong.

Various measures are used for asset recovery such as transparent accounting assist in investigating all illegal money transfers. International cooperation All states are liable to assist each other in various criminal acts, mostly the cases of cross border criminal acts. For instance one state can help the other in transferring and gathering information related to corruption. Only one have to identify the area in which assistance is needed i.e. either in seizure, search or arrest. Cooperation among all states mostly in criminal acts is obligatory.

References Langseth. P. “United Nations Guide on Anti Corruption Policy.” Ed. Vienna Austri, 2003. Schultz, Jessica. The United Nations convention against corruption: A primer for development Practitioners. Anti corruption resource center, 2007.