On 30 May 2013, 36 NGO representatives participated to the NGO Briefing organized on the occasion of the fourth session of the Implementation Review Group (IRG) of UNCAC.
Among the NGOs which took the floor were: Transparency International, Zero Corruption Coalition, SERAP, Christian Aid, the Civil Association for Equality and Justice, Access Info Europe, the U4 Anti-corruption Resource Center, and the Global Organization of Parlamentarians. They provided input on the following topics: access to information, immunities, the independence and resources of prosecution services and the judiciary, and court settlements.
The session started with a briefing by the Secretariat on the thematic reports on the implementation of Chapters III (criminalization and law enforcement) and Chapter IV (international cooperation). The afternoon session comprised a panel organized by the UNCAC Coalition and Transparency International (TI) on the topic of " Whistleblower Protection and the UNCAC - Challenges, Best Practices, and Recommendations". The panel provided an excellent opportunity to show how CSOs can provide technical assistance to governments on whistleblower protection, while emphasizing the need for more detailed standards for whistleblower protection.
A summary of the discussions is available on the UNODC website. The statements submitted by NGOs at this session of the IRG are available here.