International

Eighth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UNCAC

The eighth session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, from 16 to 20 December 2019. It was attended by political decision-makers and high-ranking representatives of anti-corruption agencies. The UNCAC currently has 186 States Parties.

Austria was represented at this event by staff of the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs (BMEIA), the Court of Audit and the BAK; Ambassador Tichy headed the delegation.
The Head of the Supreme Audit Institution of the United Arab Emirates, Harib Al Amimi, chaired the CoSP.
At the beginning of the conference week, country statements were presented in the plenary sessions. The Austrian contribution, introduced by the high-ranking BMEIA representative and head of delegation, emphasized – inter alia – the following important aspects of Austrian anti-corruption work: 1) the National Anti-Corruption Strategy and related action plans, 2) the IACA as a key element of the international anti-corruption architecture, and 3) the importance of courts of audit and regional networks such as EPAC/EACN (European Partners against Corruption / European contact-point network against corruption) in the fight against corruption. Following the statements, the review of the implementation of the UNCAC, technical assistance, prevention and international cooperation were on the agenda.
In addition, the tenth meeting of the Implementation Review Group was resumed. Moreover, participants could choose from a variety of side events. As part of the side event on "Strong and independent gatekeepers: a crucial building block for human security, fighting corruption and achieving SDG 16”, the Director of BAK, Andreas Wieselthaler, presented his assessment of the role of the media as well as of the need, as an anti-corruption agency, to build a trusting relationship with them and to understand their function and working methods in advance. At the "side event" of the IACA (International Anti-Corruption Academy), entitled "Educate-Engage-Empower to fight corruption – the cooperative approach of the International Anti-Corruption Academy", the Austrian speaker Barbara Neiger mentioned the Austrian Network of Integrity Officers (IBN) initiated and run by the BAK as an example of good practice available on the online platform of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This year's CoSP was of crucial importance because preparations for the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on corruption, which is scheduled for spring 2021, were to be formally launched at this event.
In this context, for example, a modalities resolution initiated by the United Arab Emirates as the chairing country was adopted, defining the operational implementation of the 2021 UNGASS.
Furthermore, the CoSP adopted a record number of 14 further resolutions in the areas of asset recovery, corruption prevention, corruption and environment, integrity promotion, measuring corruption, effectiveness of anti-corruption agencies, enhanced cooperation between courts of audit and anti-corruption agencies, corruption and sport, etc. The latter 2 resolutions were supported by Austria, another 7 by the EU and its Member States. Among other things, the naming of the IACA in 3 resolutions can be considered a success for Austria.