All times below are Sharm El-Sheikh time (EET).
The Summit | Organizer: World Bank and UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative
The event organized by the World Bank / UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative and other partners provided a platform for StAR, its partners, practitioners and other stakeholders to discuss various topics related to asset recovery. Panellists presented new tools, studies and solutions and outlined the challenges and expectations for the future. The programme covered the following sessions:
El Wadi | Organizer: UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States | Co-organizer: Iraq, League of Arab States
The Arab Anti-corruption and Integrity Network (ACINET) held its high-level meeting on the margins of the ninth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The event highlighted the latest developments in the network and its members. It produced a series of ideas in preventing and fighting corruption to be followed up with relevant counterparts from the MENA region and international technical assistance providers.
El Fayrouz | Organizer: Ghana | Co-organizer: UNODC
The side event "stop the virus, stop corruption, speak up", organized by Ghana in cooperation with UNODC, highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated corruption risks in the health systems worldwide, demonstrating once again that corruption poses a significant threat to public health. As a result, there is a need for greater transparency and integrity in health systems and more efforts to strengthen public health organizations to effectively and rapidly respond to health crises. Preventing corruption and strengthening health systems has become a priority for States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The panellists shared innovative ideas on making health systems more resilient to corruption and presented recent initiatives and good practices on addressing corruption in the health sector. The examples included work done to strengthen whistle-blower reporting and protection mechanisms in the health sector; experience in undertaking corruption risk assessments within health institutions; good practices in identifying corruption-prone points in public health procurement; and emerging good practices from a global perspective on the use of open contracting to prevent and mitigate corruption risks, particularly in the context of COVID-19. UNODC's publication "Speak Up for Health – Guidelines to Enable Whistle-Blower Protection in the Health-Care Sector" was launched during the event.
Ste Catherine | Organizer: UNODC Corruption and Economic Crime Branch
The high-level event focused on highlighting challenges, progress and opportunities in the fight against corruption in Africa, the role of prominent international actors and how they can be more effective. Speakers at the panel included Ms. Ghada Waly, the Executive Director of UNODC; Mr. Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Federal Ministry of Justice of Nigeria, Ms. Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union, Mr. Abdoulaye Coulibaly, Director, Governance and Knowledge Management Coordination Office, African Development Bank Group and Prof Bartolomew Armah, Director of Macroeconomic Governance Division, Un Economic Commission for Africa. The panel was moderated by Major General, Mr. Khaled Abd El Rahman, First Under-Secretary, Assistant to the Chairman for International Cooperation and Academy Affairs, Administrative Control Authority (ACA), Egypt. Panellists shared their views on the links between corruption and development in the African context. They underlined the importance of implementing the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the African Union Convention against Corruption, calling for more collaborative action. Speakers emphasized the need to address the challenge of the illicit financial flows that deprive African nations of billions of dollars every year.
Nile Valley | Organizer: Azerbaijan
The event focused on the abuse of commercial and non-commercial entities and celebrities for fund-raising activities for corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing purposes.
The Summit | Organizer: Egypt
The event presented good practices of Nigeria, Egypt and Ukraine in recovering proceeds of corruption. It highlighted the significant practical challenges in that process and pointed out ways to overcome those challenges. The StAR Initiative representative highlighted the initiative's work.
El Fayrouz | Organizer: Chile
Supreme audit institutions play a crucial role in the fight against corruption and can contribute to developing strategic actions in line with the United Nations Convention against Corruption. To this end, national anti-corruption strategies have become an increasingly popular approach to coordinating efforts among stakeholders. In this event, the Comptroller General of the Republic of Chile shared the work of his Office in formulating a national anti-corruption strategy with the support of UNODC to motivate other supreme audit institutions to engage in similar initiatives. The panellists explored good practices, lessons learned, and challenges faced by the supreme audit institutions in developing measures to tackle corruption, emphasizing the participation of society and the incorporation of a gender dimension.
Ste Catherine | Organizer: UNODC Corruption and Economic Crime Branch
Corruption in sport is a multifaceted and transnational threat. On the International Anti-Corruption Day - 9 December 2021, UNODC launched its new, landmark Global Report on Corruption in Sport. The event aimed to raise the awareness of government officials and sports organizations on how to effectively tackle corruption in sport by fulfilling the commitments made at the international level and by addressing the policy considerations included in the report. The event saw the participation of the Government of the Russian Federation, Norway, Italy, Australia, Belgium, INTERPOL, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
El Wadi | Organizer: Egypt
The event demonstrated the best practices and challenges which emerged from the implementation of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy of Egypt.
El Fayrouz | Organizer: Italy | Co-organizer: Serbia
Bearing in mind Resolution 6/7 of the UNCAC CoSP on Promoting the use of information and communications technologies for the Implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the event "Challenges and opportunities of ICT to prevent and detect corruption and to foster integrity and transparency" provided an opportunity to promote the dissemination of good practices and lessons learned on emerging policies and practices around online training and e-learning; digitalization of processes, data flows and management; inter-operability of databases for investigation and data collection; open data, big data, statistical analysis and indicators; blockchain and distributed-ledger technology; collaboration and interaction with stakeholders. The panellists presented their practical experiences and underlined that the core of the innovation challenge is not on the technological solutions and hardware infrastructure but on ideas, models, approaches inspired by ICT, and on the people who would put them into practice.
Ste Catherine | Organizer: UNODC Corruption and Economic Crime Branch | Co-organizer: Siemens AG
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in collaboration with Siemens, organized the event "Stepping up Global Action for Business Integrity". Corruption remains a crucial impediment to sustainable development despite the progress made in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic posed new challenges to business integrity by disrupting supply chains and producing rapid shifts in corruption risks for companies. At this event, high-level speakers discussed the latest trends in business integrity, illustrated the impact of the private sector-funded work of UNODC over the past ten years and called on business leaders to step up their engagement. Speakers agreed that collective action by the public sector, the private sector, civil society and academia are developing innovative and sustainable solutions to strengthen business integrity
El Wadi | Organizer: UNDP Africa | Co-organizer: African Union Advisory Board on Corruption (AUABC)
The event discussed whether and how the state reporting on anti-corruption commitments impacts Africa, drawing on lessons from UNCAC review cycles and state reports from AUABC. The event strengthened the knowledge on opportunities and challenges related to anti-corruption reporting in Africa and provided recommendations to enhance reporting processes. The online panel gathered Honourable Jean-Claude BIZIMANA, Rapporteur, AUABC; Honourable Kayobo NG'ANDU – AUABC Board Member; Dr. Pa Lamin Beyai, UNDP Resident Representative, Sierra Leone and Ms. Pusetso Morapedi, UNCAC Civil Society Coalition Sub-Saharan Africa Coordinator. The panel was moderated by Mr. David Omozuafoh, Regional Governance and Rule of Law Advisor, UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa, Ethiopia. Panellists focused on the lessons learned and advantages emerging from anti-corruption reports for the African Member States from two review mechanisms. They debated how the findings and recommendations could be implemented to prevent and fight corruption effectively.
El Fayrouz | Organizer: UNODC | Co-organizer: OECD, Council of Europe, OAS
In most international and regional instruments against corruption, the protection of persons who report acts of corruption is considered one of the key elements to better detect, investigate, prosecute, and ultimately combat corruption. Over the years, and with the adoption of more and more laws and international instruments, the notion of reporting persons ("whistle-blowers") and whistle-blower protection legal frameworks has been refined. However, the concept is not understood in the same way by all countries and stakeholders. This lack of harmony in the definitions could confuse persons mistakenly believing that they can benefit from protection when this may not be the case. During this event, anti-corruption regional and international organizations compared their definitions on whistle-blowing, in line with the provisions included in their respective instruments, and presented tools and recommendations on whistle-blower protection stemming from and refined by anti-corruption peer review processes.
Ste Catherine | Organizer: UNDP | Co-organizers: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Uzbekistan, Fiji
The event "Digitalization – a "silver bullet" to prevent corruption?" organized by UNDP discussed digitalization's role in preventing corruption globally. In anti-corruption, technology has become one of the greatest allies for preventing and tackling corruption. Digital tools are used for detecting, analyzing, and monitoring corruption and promoting effective, accountable and inclusive institutions. However, a new UNDP study stressed the need to address the risks of misuse and abuse of technology, including corrupt and fraudulent activities that could be facilitated by technology. High-level speakers from governments, CSOs and development partners highlighted the opportunities and risks associated with using technology, particularly amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in the context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. They shared global, regional and national experiences and lessons learned on leveraging technology for anti-corruption efforts. Panellists offered recommendations on effective digital governance strategies to maximize the benefits of technology and minimize the risks of abuse
Nile Valley | Organizer: Malaysia
The session shared Malaysia's experiences in fighting corruption in recent years. The event focused on the key anti-corruption, good governance, integrity policies introduced in Malaysia and the establishment of the National Centre for Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption (GIACC) in 2018. One of the key initiatives of the Centre has been the development of Malaysia's National Anti-Corruption Plan launched in January 2019. Further in consolidating the effort, Malaysia established "The Perdana International Anti-Corruption Champion Foundation (PIACCF)" in 2019. The establishment of the foundation is proof of Malaysia's resolve to promote the implementation of the Convention and cooperate with the anti-corruption agencies in the region and internationally to assist officials of anti-corruption authorities who were victimized for their commitment to combating corruption