“Strengthening the Culture of Integrity” on tackling corruption in South Eastern Europe

23-24 May, Šibenik, Croatia:  The international high-level conference was held in Sibenik, Croatia, organized jointly by the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration of Croatia and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime. The event gathered justice ministers and other practitioners from the justice and public administration sectors, heads of anti-corruption authorities from the region as well as representatives on international and regional organizations, civil society and academia.

The objective of the conference was to raise the importance of the fight against corruption, from both the preventive and countering perspectives and to facilitate the sharing of best practices and approaches in this area across South Eastern Europe.  The conference also highlighted the importance of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) as the most comprehensive, legally binding and universal instrument against corruption with a comprehensive set of legal commitments made by Governments to tackle corruption in all its forms.

At the event, UNODC had the opportunity to present the efforts of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (STAR), a joint initiative of the World Bank Group and UNODC that supports international efforts on the global level to end safe havens for corrupt funds and asset recovery. UNODC also presented  the activities and support  provided to the jurisdictions from the region in the fight against corruption, such as the initiative “From Illicit Financial Flows to Asset Recovery” as well as the Regional Anti-Corruption and Illicit Finance Roadmap, both implemented in the framework of the UNODC Regional Programme for South Eastern Europe, generously funded by the Government of the United Kingdom.

This activity contributes to SDG 16, particularly Targets 16.5 on substantially reducing corruption and bribery and 16.4 significantly reducing illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organized crime.

https://sdg-tracker.org/peace-justice#targets