UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION

1 UNITED NATIONS CONVENTIONAGAINST CORRUPTIONV ienna International Centre, PO Box 500, A 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: +(43) (1) 26060-0, Fax: +(43) (1) 26060-5866, in Austria August 2004 copiesUNITED 17/08/2004 12:33 Page 1 UNITED NATIONS office ON DRUGS AND CRIMEV iennaUNITED NATIONS CONVENTIONAGAINST CORRUPTIONUNITED NATIONSNew York, 2004iiiForewordCorruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effectson societies. It undermines democracy and the rule of law, leads to violationsof human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organizedcrime, terrorism and other threats to human security to evil phenomenon is found in all countries big and small, rich andpoor but it is in the developing world that its effects are most hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended fordevelopment.

2 Undermining a Government s ability to provide basic services,feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and is a key element in economic underperformance and a major obsta-cle to poverty alleviation and am therefore very happy that we now have a new instrument to addressthis scourge at the global level. The adoption of the UNITED NATIONS Conventionagainst CORRUPTION will send a clear message that the international communityis determined to prevent and control CORRUPTION .

3 It will warn the corrupt thatbetrayal of the public trust will no longer be tolerated. And it will reaffirm theimportance of core values such as honesty, respect for the rule of law, account-ability and transparency in promoting development and making the world abetter place for new CONVENTION is a remarkable achievement, and it complementsanother landmark instrument, the UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION againstTransnational Organized crime , which entered into force just a month ago.

4 Itis balanced, strong and pragmatic, and it offers a new framework for effectiveaction and international CONVENTION introduces a comprehensive set of standards, measuresand rules that all countries can apply in order to strengthen their legal andregulatory regimes to fight CORRUPTION . It calls for preventive measures and thecriminalization of the most prevalent forms of CORRUPTION in both public andprivate sectors. And it makes a major breakthrough by requiring Member Statesto return assets obtained through CORRUPTION to the country from which theywere provisions the first of their kind introduce a new fundamentalprinciple, as well as a framework for stronger cooperation between States toprevent and detect CORRUPTION and to return the proceeds.

5 Corrupt officials willin future find fewer ways to hide their illicit gains. This is a particularly impor-tant issue for many developing countries where corrupt high officials haveivplundered the national wealth and where new Governments badly needresources to reconstruct and rehabilitate their the UNITED NATIONS , the CONVENTION is the culmination of work thatstarted many years ago, when the word CORRUPTION was hardly ever uttered inofficial circles.

6 It took systematic efforts, first at the technical, and then gradu-ally at the political, level to put the fight AGAINST CORRUPTION on the globalagenda. Both the Monterrey International Conference on Financing for Devel-opment and the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Developmentoffered opportunities for Governments to express their determination to attackcorruption and to make many more people aware of the devastating effect thatcorruption has on CONVENTION is also the result of long and difficult negotiations.

7 Manycomplex issues and many concerns from different quarters had to be was a formidable challenge to produce, in less than two years, an instrumentthat reflects all those concerns. All countries had to show flexibility and makeconcessions. But we can be proud of the me to congratulate the members of the bureau of the Ad HocCommittee for the Negotiation of a CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION on theirhard work and leadership, and to pay a special tribute to the Committee s lateChairman, Ambassador H ctor Charry Samper of Colombia, for his wise guid-ance and his dedication.

8 I am sure all here share my sorrow that he is not withus to celebrate this great adoption of the new CONVENTION will be a remarkable let us be clear: it is only a beginning. We must build on the momentumachieved to ensure that the CONVENTION enters into force as soon as possible. Iurge all Member States to attend the Signing Conference in Merida, Mexico,in December, and to ratify the CONVENTION at the earliest possible fully enforced, this new instrument can make a real difference to thequality of life of millions of people around the world.

9 And by removing one ofthe biggest obstacles to development it can help us achieve the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. Be assured that the UNITED NATIONS Secretariat, and inparticular the UNITED NATIONS office on Drugs and crime , will do whatever itcan to support the efforts of States to eliminate the scourge of CORRUPTION fromthe face of the Earth. It is a big challenge, but I think that, together, we canmake a A. AnnanSecretary-GeneralvContentsPageGener al Assembly resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003.

10 1 Annex. UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION .. provisions .. measures .. and law enforcement .. cooperation .. recovery .. assistance and information exchange .. for implementation .. provisions .. 531 General Assembly resolution 58/4of 31 October 2003 UNITED NATIONS Conventionagainst CorruptionThe General Assembly,Recalling its resolution 55/61 of 4 December 2000, in which it establishedan ad hoc committee for the negotiation of an effective international legal in-strument AGAINST CORRUPTION and requested the Secretary-General to convene anintergovernmental open-ended expert group to examine and prepare draft termsof reference for the negotiation of such an instrument.