The main directions of international cooperation in the field of anti-corruption and plans for the future

In recent years, the problem of combating corruption has been recognized by the world community as one of the most pressing global problems. This scourge is not an internal problem of countries only, but also a transnational phenomenon affecting the economies of all countries, what is recognized by the world community, and mechanisms for international cooperation in the fight against corruption are being updated.

Today, international cooperation in combating corruption includes not only the issues of detention and extradition of persons who have committed corruption, the conduct of investigative actions or the return of assets by a foreign partner, but also large-scale measures to exchange experience in improving the efficiency of the system, improving the skills of personnel, implementing joint projects, developing proposals and recommendations, organizing events in the format of various international and regional organizations, conducting joint scientific and sociological research.

As UN Secretary-General A. Guterres noted in his speech of June 3, 2021: “Together we must build stronger systems for accountability, transparency and integrity”.

We see the devastating impact of corruption on the economy, politics and social life of states in vivid examples of crises in a number of countries.

At the same time, a number of countries that have an effective practice of fighting against  corruption, such as Singapore, Sweden, Finland, are today recognized as among the most developed countries. 

Each country has its own experience and practice in the fight against corruption, of which there are 3 main models that are widespread in the world:

– Model of Western European countries (strengthening the role of the media, increasing the activity of the public and the business community, ensuring transparency and accountability of state bodies and organizations);

– Model of Southeast Asian countries (training of personnel, creation of separate anti-corruption institutions);

– USA model (improving the regulatory framework for combating corruption, the rules of ethical behavior of civil servants).

Use of regional and international cooperation mechanisms, i.e. organization of joint anti-corruption events, exchange of experience, development of recommendations within the framework of international organizations, scientific and logistical support in the fight against corruption serve to increase the effectiveness of countries' anti-corruption systems.

Since the last years of the twentieth century, a number of international documents have been adopted to achieve these goals, to establish multilateral cooperation in the international community in the field of combating corruption. In particular,

– On March 29, 1996, the Organization of American States adopted the Inter-American Convention against Corruption;

– On May 26, 1997, Council of the European Union adopted Convention against Corruption in respect of Officials of the European Community or Officials of Member States of the European Union;

– On November 21, 1997, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development adopted the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Commercial Transactions;

– On January 27, 1999, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption;

– On November 4, 1999, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted Civil Law Convention on Corruption;

– On July 12, 2003, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption was adopted by the Heads of State and Government of the African Union.

The adoption of the above documents paved the way for the adoption on December 9, 2003, of The UN Convention against Corruption, which is a universal document containing common international standards for combating corruption.

To date, 189 countries have signed the Convention, and the Republic of Uzbekistan has acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption by adopting the Law of July 7, 2008 “On the accession of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (New York, October 31, 2003)”. The main thrusts of the Convention are preventive measures, ensuring the inevitability of liability and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, technical assistance and information exchange.

It should be noted that article 6 of the Convention provides for that each Member-State, in accordance with the basic principles of its legal system, shall ensure that there is an authority or, where appropriate, authorities, that carry out activities to prevent corruption.

In recent years, our country has adopted a number of conceptually important normative legal documents in the field of anticorruption, which take into account the requirements of this convention and other international standards.

In particular, on June 29, 2020, two important documents were adopted that improved the institutional framework for combating corruption and served as an impetus for the development of this area - the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On additional measures to improve the anti-corruption system in the Republic of Uzbekistan” and the Resolution of the President “On the organization of the activities of the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. These documents created a new structure that implements the state policy on preventing and combating corruption – the Anti-Corruption Agency. 

The Agency is defined as a specially authorized state body responsible for international cooperation in this area, and among its main tasks and activities are defined:

1. Implementation of international anti-corruption instruments and organization of their effective functioning, improvement of legislation in this area.

2. Development of proposals for the implementation of international standards and best world practices in the field.

3. Analysis of the effectiveness of the use of loans from international organizations and foreign countries, as well as the development of proposals for its improvement.

4. Taking systematic measures on the development of international cooperation in the field of preventing and combating corruption, strengthening the image of the country and improving its position in international rankings. 

In order to implement these tasks, a large-scale work has been carried out during the period of the Agency’s activity.

In particular, in order to widely introduce modern methods and tools for combating corruption in all state bodies, a “compliance control” system has been created and the Agency, together with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has developed 10 samples of internal departmental documents on organizing the effectiveness of combating corruption in the activities of ministries and departments in accordance with the requirements of the international standard ISO 37001:2016.

To date, 12 ministries and departments have received such certificates.

In 2021, the Agency and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime implemented the project “Building the capacity of civil society in the field of good governance in Central Asia”. Within the framework of this document, the methodology of the National Corruption Perceptions Index was developed, cooperation was carried out to improve the methods of anti-corruption expertize of normative documents, conduct of sociological research, and study of foreign experience on sites.

In addition, the Agency and the OSCE developed the project “Assistance in the fight against corruption in Uzbekistan” for 2021–2022, which is being implemented in accordance with the Action Plan signed between the two organizations.

Within the framework of the project, measures are being taken to ensure the openness of state bodies and organizations and work with open data.

Also, in cooperation with the UNDP, a platform for reporting cases of corruption to the Agency (eanticor.uz) has been developed and is being improved. Currently, practical work is underway to launch a mobile version of this platform.

In addition, in cooperation with the same international organization, an online magazine “Uzbekistan Anti-Corruption Digest” was created, which is published monthly in Uzbek, Russian and English.

In recent years, a number of measures have been taken to implement the UN Convention against Corruption and other international standards into national legislation:

– in November 2021, in order to comply with the requirements of article 10 of the Convention (public sector accountability) and actively promote the implementation of special anti-corruption measures in the private sector, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Business Ombudsman and the Agency announced the Anti-Corruption Charter of Business of Uzbekistan;

– in accordance with the requirements of the above article, on June 16, 2021, in order to increase the openness and accountability of the activities of state bodies and organizations, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. UP-6247
“On additional measures to ensure the openness of the activities of state bodies and organizations, as well as effective implementation of public control” was adopted, according to which a list of information of public importance and subject to open publication was approved;

– according to the requirements of the Convention, the State Anti-Corruption Program for 2021–2022 provides for the definition of a clear list of articles of the Criminal Code that fall under the category of corruption crimes, an increase in punishment for corruption crimes up to long terms of imprisonment, establishing liability for illicit enrichment identified in the process of declaring income and property, as well as the introduction of restrictions on the use of mitigating norms in the criminal punishment of persons who have committed crimes of corruption.

The Agency, together with international partners, organized more than 50 major events (forums, conferences, training seminars). In addition, more than 100 meetings with representatives of international organizations, foreign anti-corruption authorities and embassies were held to ensure the fulfillment of tasks related to the activities of the Agency. In particular, meetings were organized with: 

– The United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan, the OSCE, the International Heritage Foundation, the German Foundation for International Cooperation (GIZ), the International Non-Governmental Organization “Regional Dialogue”, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund;

– Embassies of the People's Republic of China, Japan, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Russian Federation, Norway, Switzerland;

– heads of anti-corruption bodies of Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, People’s Republic of China, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Moldova, Arab Republic of Egypt, Malaysia and Singapore.

Seven Memorandums of Cooperation and three Programs of Cooperation with international organizations and foreign anti-corruption agencies were signed.

In particular, memorandums and cooperation programs were signed between the Agency and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Representative Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Uzbekistan, the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Agency for State Financial Control and Anti-Corruption of the Republic Tajikistan, Diplomatic Mission of Great Britain in Uzbekistan and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Service, Slovenian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the International Anti-Corruption Academy.

At the same time, draft memorandums of understanding have been developed with the anti-corruption agencies of the People's Republic of China, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova and Malaysia and are currently being agreed with partner organizations.

Five business trips of the Agency’s delegation to seven foreign countries have been organized (to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Germany, France and Austria, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Kazakhstan).

On the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, the practice of holding an annual Anti-Corruption Week has been introduced. During the week, events were organized in cooperation with UNDP, UNODC, OSCE, EBRD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Non-Governmental Organization “Regional Dialogue”, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and UNICEF.

Within the framework of the events, forums and conferences of various levels and formats, contests, promotions and flash mobs, round tables, trainings and
talk shows were held.

On June 16, 2021, the 4^th meeting of the heads of the anti-corruption bodies and ombudspersons of the member states of the Economic Cooperation Organization was held in Tashkent. It was attended by over 40 representatives of Member States.

During the meeting, the issues of the exchange of regional experience in the field of combating corruption between the Member States, the formation and implementation of a unified mechanism of anti-corruption policy between the Member States, as well as the development of additional proposals in the system, the professional development of employees operating in the field were discussed, and the consideration of the possibility of joining the charter of the ECO Regional Center for combating corruption was agreed.

The Agency is carrying out practical work to further strengthen international cooperation in combating corruption, expanding the effectiveness and geography of cooperation.