Statement at Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption

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Mr/ Madam President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, 

I thank the Government of Indonesia for hosting this second conference of the States Parties. I would also like to thank the UNODC for organizing this important meeting and preparing the conference documents.

Corruption is rot in the very fabric of society. It undermines development efforts; it demoralizes both citizens and authorities. Stealing from future generations raises the conflict level and it is a serious obstacle to building strong, well functional states.

The adoptation of the UNCAC was a breakthrough in our joint efforts against corruption. Intersessional work has taken place since Jordan. Our main challenge now is to move the agenda forward and fully release UNCAC’s potential as an efficient instrument in the global fight against corruption.  

Mr President,

Norway would like to stress the importance of establishing a mechanism to assist in the review of the implementation of the convention.

In December 2006 in Jordan we all agreed that it is necessary to establish a mechanism with the objective to assist in the review of the implementation of the Convention. The Conference of the States Parties has already identified the main principles of the mechanism; it should be transparent, efficient, non intrusive, inclusive and impartial. It should not produce any form of ranking, it should provide opportunities to share good practises and challenges and it should complement existing mechanisms. Our main goal this week should be to create a review mechanism as mandated by the Convention. We should address issues such as terms of reference, organization and financial arrangements for the mechanism.

Since Jordan, a voluntary pilot project has been established. The goal is to test review methods and gain experience. The lessons learned can provide valuable recommendations to the Conference. We welcome other parties to join an expanded pilot. Wider participation will strenghten this experience further.

In order to ensure progress and not loose momentum, clear deadline for the pilot should be established. We believe that the pilot should be concluded well in advance of the next Conference of the States Parties.

Mr President, effective implementation of UNCACs provisions on asset recovery and international cooperation is key to the success of the convention. There is an urgent need to build expertise and capacity on asset recovery globally. We should learn, in a systematic manner, from previous experience, share between us lessons learned and make effective use of available resources.

To further enhance the recovery of proceeds of corruption, effective implementation of the UNCAC obligations concerning prevention and detection of transfers of such proceeds is essential. Related to this issue, appropriate attention should be given to structures and persons facilitating and profitting from hiding and laundering of stolen assets. In this regard Norway has taken an initiative establishing a task force on the development impact of illicit financial flows. The objective is to raise awareness and increase knowledge of this issue, and to identify policy tools to prevent and combat the negative impact of such flows.

A number of initiatives on asset recovery are now being developed. Norway warmly congratulates the UNODC and the World Bank on the launch last fall of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR). Now we need concrete results, and we need them soon. Successful recovery of assets will demonstrate to the international community that justice is on the side of the victims of corruption.

The implementation of the convention should be at the heart of development cooperation. Experience has told us that there is a great need for technical assistance to ensure its implementation. Norway will continue to support and strengthen financial support to this effect.

During the first Conference of the States Parties, Norway together with others took the initiative to organize the workshop that took place in Montevideo last year. This brought together experts on the UNCAC and development experts. We are eager to see new initiatives and decisions on technical assistance related to the UNCAC during this week.

Finally, Mr. President, I would like to highlight the discussion we have had on bribery of officials of public international organizations. This was a result of a decision by the first Conference of the States Parties. We expect that this conference adopt a resolution that takes this issue forward.

We urge all Parties to contribute to moving ahead on all the major issues. We not only have an opportunity to take further steps in the right direction: We also have an obligation to do so.

Thank you.