The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has called on state parties to ratify and implement the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and enter into its peer review mechanism.
Mr Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of UNODC, in a statement to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day said: ?Our global resistance to corruption hinges on UNCAC.
?This essential tool, founded on the mutual trust of nations working side by side, which has proven to be a transformational experience for participating countries, is delivering tangible results.?
The statement, copied to the Ghana News Agency, explained that UNCAC ranged from meaningful reform to the strengthening of anti-corruption institutions all over the world.
It said: ?No country, region or field of endeavour escapes the pull of this crime. Corruption drives up prices, erodes business credibility, diverts public funds and undermines equity and fairness across societies.
?But its influence has rippled outwards. Once considered to be the simple cost of doing business, corruption is now the destructive price paid by millions of citizens, especially the poor.?
It, therefore, urged businesses and business groups to speak out against corruption, and in doing so, acknowledge that a company?s brand was driven by good practices, ethical behaviour and sound procurement rules.
According to the statement, corruption reaches into boardrooms, government, law enforcement, education, healthcare and sports, among many other areas.
?It may be seen in missing tracts of forest, lost classrooms, absent hospitals, and unbuilt roads,? it said.
?Corruption, today, represents a serious brake on the forward motion of sustainable development and building effective institutions.
?Just as significantly, corruption oils the wheels of other damaging crimes, including illicit trafficking in drugs, people, animals, timber and guns,? the statement said.
Civil society, it said, must also work to ensure that corruption was confronted.
?This work is crucial and UNODC will continue to work closely with civil society in the future,? the statement said.
According to the statement, the 6th Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC would be held in 2015 at St. Petersburg, to create an opportunity to further strengthen global anti-corruption action and deliver the message that corruption has no place in our world.
?On the International Day against Corruption, I welcome the tremendous efforts against corruption undertaken by governments, UN agencies, the private and public sector, civil society, academia and the media,? the statement quoted Mr Fedotov.
?I pledge that UNODC will continue to work with its partners to help eliminate corruption, and to support the wider UN work in the area of protecting and promoting sustainable development,? he said.
On October 31, 2003, the UN General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption and requested that the Secretary-General designate, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as secretariat for the Convention?s Conference of States Parties (resolution 58/4).
The Assembly also designated December 9, as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it. The Convention entered into force in December 2005.
This year’s theme, “Break the Corruption Chain,” focuses on human rights violations.
Corruption, the statement said distorted markets, eroded quality of life and allowed threats to human security to flourish.
GNA
