UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime):
Strengthening corporate integrity efforts
UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime): Strengthening corporate integrity and cooperation efforts
Partnership Story
Corruption is a crime with significant impact on governments and businesses around the world. Despite the potential negative impacts of corruption on companies’ bottom line cost for doing business and the associated reputational risks, in most countries there exist few legal incentives for businesses to come forward and report corruption. Governments can put legal provisions in place to encourage greater corporate integrity and increase reporting of corruption, which can be complimented with strengthened private sector internal compliance, integrity and reporting programmes.
This Siemens Integrity Initiative funded project, which is implemented by UNODC in cooperation with the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA), aims to promote States’ efforts to put a system of legal incentives in place to encourage companies’ integrity efforts, hence encouraging business to come forward and report internal incidents of corruption.
The project is promoting States’ implementation of articles 26 (Liability of legal persons), 32 (Protection of witnesses, experts and victims), 33 (Protection of reporting persons), 37 (Cooperation with law enforcement authorities) and 39 (Cooperation between national authorities and the private sector) of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (hereinafter UNCAC or the Convention) and to facilitate private actors’ compliance with the 10th Principle of the UN Global Compact (“Business should work against corruption in any form, including bribery and extortion”).
The project focuses on the developing economies of India and Mexico, as well as implementing several activities on a global level.
To promote corporate integrity and cooperation, UNODC is:
(a) reviewing laws, regulations and procedures in India and Mexico in order to ensure full compliance with several articles of the Convention;
(b) producing customer-friendly training modules and sensitization materials to explain such laws and regulations to public and private procurement operators;
© delivering simultaneous training/sensitization programmes for public and private sector representatives for them to acquire a better understanding of corporate integrity and cooperation and of each other’s approaches, objectives and constraints;
(d) organizing two major expert groups meetings at IACA which bring together experts from India and Mexico to exchange good practices with international experts on legal incentives for corporate integrity;
(e) developing a resource tool to aid practitioners in understanding good practices in relation to UNCAC articles 26, 32,33, 37, and 39;
Partnership types of interest
Advocacy of global issues; Standards and guidelines development; Project funding; Provision of services / personnel
Global issues
Anti-corruption, transparency and law enforcement
Business sectors
Advocacy and legal services; Construction; Education and training; Engineering; Extractive industries and chemicals; Forestry; Public administration
Partnership types of interest
Advocacy of global issues; Standards and guidelines development; Project funding; Provision of services / personnel
Anti-corruption, transparency and law enforcement
Business sectorsAdvocacy and legal services; Construction; Education and training; Engineering; Extractive industries and chemicals; Forestry; Public administration