DUSHANBE, May 18, Asia-Plus — Tajik parliament intends to ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC)that was signed by the country’s government in New York on September 26 2006.
According to UNDP CO in Tajikistan, a roundtable meeting dedicated to consider issues related to ratification of UNCAC and mechanisms of its implementation in Tajikistan that was held in Dushanbe on May 11.
The meeting was staged by the UNDP CO in Tajikistan in cooperation with Tajikistan’s Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption.
The meeting participants included the Tajik anticorruption agency director Sherkhon Salimov, UNDP officer-in-charge Ercan Murat, representatives from president’s office, state bodies, as well as NGOs, media and international experts from Russia and Serbia.
Participants at the meeting discussed measures to lay legal foundation of international cooperation in combating corruption in the country.
Telling the meeting, Ercan Murat noted that signing of the Convention had given Tajik government an opportunity to demonstrate its readiness and willingness to fight corruption. The next stage will be ratification of this Convention by the country’s parliament, according to him.
During the meeting it was noted that ratification of the Convention will a logical completion of a process that had been launched within the framework of further moves of anticorruption policy of the country. First of all, it is necessary to examine the national legislation in order to reveal conditions making for spread of corruption as well as set up a working group for projecting the national anticorruption program under the aegis of the government with enlisting the services of all branches of power and civil society.
To raise effectiveness of activity of the working group it was suggested that it should consist of representatives from president’s office, parliament, anticorruption agency, prosecutor-general’s office, the Supreme Court, justice ministry and representatives from civil society.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly by resolution 58/4 of October 31 2003. To combat corruption it includes measures on prevention, criminalization, international cooperation, and asset recovery. The treaty entered into force on December 14 2005, following the 30th ratification by Ecuador on September 15 at the 2005 World Summit.
In its eight Chapters and 71 Articles, the UNCAC obliges the States Parties to implement a wide and detailed range of anti-corruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices. These measures aim to promote the prevention, detection and sanctioning of corruption, as well as the cooperation between State Parties on these matters. The UNCAC is unique as compared to other conventions, not only in its global coverage but also in the extensiveness and detail of its provisions.
