As the 6th Conference of State Parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC COSP) draws near, the UNCAC Coalition [1] has introduced an exciting new initiative to ask governments to ensure transparency and engage civil society throughout the UNCAC review process in their countries.
The Coalition view the 6th UNCAC COSP in St. Petersburg as a significant opportunity to engage with countries all over the world and influence decision makers to ensure that transparency and civil society participation will be respected and protected by governments of all UNCAC state members.
The core idea is to bring together countries that value transparency and ask them to sign a pledge. The UNCAC Coalition is asking countries to join by 15 October 2015 and to commit themselves to follow the six principles.
Being a member of the UNCAC Coalition, Towards Transparency has sent the pledge to the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam asking them to consider signing the pledge on behalf of the Vietnam Government.
Vietnam’s signing and ratification of the UNCAC in 2009, was generally viewed as a progressive step towards anti-corruption. The pledge is one more step urging the Vietnam Government to fulfil their commitment to Article 13 of UNCAC which stipulates the participation of CSOs.
We believe that transparency and participation will help us utilise the outcomes of the country reports and increase the efficiency of the review mechanism.
View the pledge: English and Vietnamese.
[1] The UNCAC Coalition is a global network of over 350 civil society organisations (CSOs) in over 100 countries, committed to promoting the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Established in August 2006, it mobilises civil society action for UNCAC at international, regional and national levels