Cambodia kicks-off Second Review Cycle of the UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism



Phnom Penh (Cambodia), 2 May 2018
- With a national consultation workshop organized by the Anti-Corruption Unit of Cambodia and supported by UNODC, Cambodia kicks-off the Second Review Cycle of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Implementation Review Mechanism ahead of time. The Implementation Review Mechanism (IRM) consists of several steps, the first of which is the self-assessment checklist (SACL) that each country under review has to complete, providing information on their national laws and assessing to which extent they believe they are in compliance with the Convention.

The review process requires the input from a broad range of institutions and stakeholders. Having undergone the first review cycle of the UNCAC, Cambodia now organized a consultation workshop with external stakeholders to proactively include them in the review process and ask for their input and assistance in completing the SACL at an early stage of the review process. The workshop also helped raising awareness and knowledge among the participants on the Convention and its Implementation Review Cycle and presented the findings of the first review cycle of Cambodia.

"The review process is an important initiative and we need all stakeholders from society to actively participate in this process, cooperate and supply information to the SACL", says Ms. Sitha Ou, representative of the ACU.

For this purpose, the ACU developed a first draft of the SACL and a toolkit for stakeholders which outlines the missing information and questions that still need to be completed. Based on the information collected through this consultation, the ACU will develop a second draft of the SACL and circulate again with all the stakeholders for their input to then develop the final draft. The ACU hopes that this way, the process can be completed in a timely and efficient manner.

The second review cycle, which covers Chapter 2 on "Prevention" and Chapter 5 on "Asset recovery", will officially start in June 2018, after the next session of the Working Group on Review of Implementation earlier in June 2018. Cambodia completed the first review cycle, covering Chapter 3 "Criminalization and Law Enforcement" and Chapter 4 "International Cooperation" in 2015, and also participated to the reviews of other State Parties in Europe, Middle East and the Pacific. The reviewing State Parties of Cambodia in the second review cycle are yet to be selected.

Approximately 70 participants from various institutions, ranging from government, public to private sector, civil society, academia and the media, participated to this one-day event.