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Releases > Ratification of the United Nations
and African Union Convention
5th January, 2005
Mr. Sheka Mansaray
Secretary to President
State Lounge - Hill Station
Freetown.
Dear Sir,
RE: RATIFICATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND AFRICAN UNION CONVENTIONS
ON PREVENTING AND COMBATING CORRUPTION AND RELATED OFFENCES.
On 9th – 10th December 2003,
at a ceremony in Merida, Mexico, the United Nations
Convention against corruption was signed by the first
member-states. Since then 113 countries have signed
the Convention, recognised worldwide as a major milestone
in international efforts to curb corruption. To mark
the event, the UN General Assembly subsequently designated
9th December, starting in 2004, as UN International
Anti-Corruption Day.
More and more governments in both
the developed and developing worlds, together with the
private sector, the World Bank and the United Nations,
are joining in a global consensus that prevention of
corruption and promotion of good governance are essential
to the achievement of sustainable economic and social
development and to the creation of a competitive private
sector.
The UN convention, the first global
legally binding instrument on corruption, breaks new
ground with its provisions on corruption prevention
and assets recovery. The convention facilitates international
cooperation in the control and sanctioning of corruption,
provides governments, citizens and donors with internationally
agreed reference points for their work at country level,
and provides important standards for both public sector
ethics and access to information, as well as codes of
conduct and accounting standards of the private sector.
Transparency International (TI) was
instrumental in the development of the Convention, as
well as the African Union Conventions and the OECD Anti-Bribery
Convention, which criminalised bribery of foreign public
officials and came into force in 1991. TI is also working
actively with the private sector, pushing forward the
Business Principles for Countering Bribery and by working
with the UN Global Compact to see the recent addition
of an anti-corruption pillar as the 10th Principle of
the Compact.
The UN Convention has been ratified
to date by 10 member-states, and will come into force
90 days after the 30th ratification. As the national
chapter of Transparency International in Sierra Leone,
we are convinced that the government and the Parliament
of Sierra Leone should ratify the UN Convention and
the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating
Corruption and related offences.
Through the illegal diversion of funds
to corrupt groups and individuals, corruption has and
continues to deprive the children of Sierra Leone their
future, contributing to the 12-year conflicts in Sierra
Leone and bred distrust between the people of Sierra
Leone and their government. We urge the government to
continue to show the political will and leadership so
far demonstrated in implementing both the spirit and
through provision of the necessary resources, the letter
of the UN Convention, the African Union Convention and
the 2000 Anti-Corruption Act of Sierra Leone.
Thank you very much.
Yours faithfully,
-signed-
Zainab Hawa Bangura (Mrs.)
Executive Director, National Accountability Group
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