UNODC Anti-Corruption: Citizen-focused Accountability and Transparency in ASEAN
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As highlighted in the Strategy for Sweden’s regional development cooperation with Asia and the Pacific Region in 2022–2026, democratic development and respect for human rights and the rule of law have regressed in a number of cases. Space for the media and civil society to operate freely has shrunken markedly. In addition, corruption is widespread. An integr...
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As highlighted in the Strategy for Sweden’s regional development cooperation with Asia and the Pacific Region in 2022–2026, democratic development and respect for human rights and the rule of law have regressed in a number of cases. Space for the media and civil society to operate freely has shrunken markedly. In addition, corruption is widespread. An integrated approach within and between the areas of the strategy is sought in the project, primarily through UNODC's choice of partners, were several also are involved in the environment and climate efforts in the region. The project thus works to prevent and fight corruption when it comes to crimes that affect the environment. One of the long term missions of UNODC is to help make the world safer from corruption. This would also reduce the exposure for people living in poverty and vulnerable situations, when it comes to extreme climate-related events and other shocks in society. During the operationalisation process of the new swedish strategi, the embassy identified a gap regarding a direct anti-corruption support. Looking at indirect support and integration of anti-corruption, there are several examples in the current portfolio. Given limitations in the budget for 2023, the size of the project has decreased, and the geographical scope is set to be ASEAN subregion. Legal frameworks: The UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the first and unique global legally binding anti-corruption instrument. It introduces a comprehensive set of standards, measures and rules to fight corruption. UNCAC provides a comprehensive framework to strengthen anti-corruption programmes in the region. Following the Convention's provisions, all countries in the region need to undergo a review of compliance. The review process comprises two five-year cycles. Corruption and poverty: As stated in the Regional Multi-Dimensional Poverty Analysis (MDPA) conducted by Sida, the lack of strong and independent democratic institutions and limits to a free press has made corruption widespread. Grand corruption by elites in the private sector, the government and the military is a major problem in the region, this high-level abuse of power that favors the few at the expense of the many can destroy entire sectors, create recessions and stop democracies. Through its work at global, regional and national levels on Alternative Development and on Corruption, UNODC provides support to Member States to reach their Targets under the various SDGs, including SDG 1 on ending poverty and the related targets 1.4, on equal rights to economic resources, and 1.5, on building the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations. Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately by diverting funds intended for development, undermining a Government’s ability to provide basic services, feeding inequality and injustice and discouraging foreign aid and investment. Corruption is a key element in economic underperformance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and development. Through the framework of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), UNODC provides support to Member States in developing national and regional capacities to prevent and effectively address corruption and its links with poverty. The initiatives supported by UNODC aim at strengthening anti-corruption policies, legislation and strategies, enhancing regional anti-corruption networks and institutions, and promoting anti-corruption strategies with the private sector, civil society and academia thus accelerating progress towards sustainable development and poverty reduction.
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Total aid 11,200,000 SEK distributed on 0 activities
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Result
The brief report for 2023 covers the first 6 month of implementation of the pilot phase. The report is focused on activities conducted by UNODC and partners, to build the project foundation. Key highlights from the first 6 months narrative reporting: - October 2023: Convening a regional gathering in Kuala Lumpur for Southeast Asian civil society actors and journalists for dialogues on anti-corruption. This enabled a needs assessment, building of trust and buy-ins, and joint planning of future initiatives. The participants included leading voices in their respective areas. In both workshops, the participants collectively agreed on establishing a network of anti-corruption CSOs, and another network of journalists. -Following on the above, on International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December 2023, the Southeast Asian Anti-Corruption Network for Civil Society Organizations (SEA-ACN) was officially launched. - During the 6 months reporting period, UNODC also focused on developing knowledge materials that inform the focus of the technical assistance and will help the work of partner organizations, including on whistleblower protection, a key concept on the topic of citizen engagement in anti-corruption. Examples of knowledge products: - Development of a thematic report on UNCAC Chapter III on criminalization and law enforcement based on in-depth analysis of ASEAN Member States UNCAC review reports, including the completion of UNCAC review recommendations matrices of all ASEAN Member States (Activities 1.1.1 and 1.1.2) (Published in 2024). - Development of advocacy materials for civil society actors and the media, including: 1) A discussion paper on Whistleblower Protection, which took stock of existing frameworks in the region, highlighted good practices and presented recommendations; 2) Five factsheets on UNCAC (overview each dedicated to the four chapters of UNCAC) to raise awareness on the Convention and ASEAN Governments existing international commitments. - With ASEAN Governments, and utilizing the developed knowledge base above, UNODC highlighted areas that can be leveraged for advocacy, including in-person at the 19th Principals Meeting of ASEAN Parties Against Corruption (ASEAN-PAC) in Vientiane, Lao PDR on 29 November. (Activities 1.2.1 and 1.2.2). Other result examples and progress (collected via update meetings, email conversations and travels): - The Journalists Against Corruption (JAC) network was launched on March 20, 2024 at The Bayleaf Intramuros in Manilla. The aim of the network is to become a platform for national and regional collaborative investigations and training opportunities. Building on its experience in developing the Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists Network (PACJN) and in supporting national media throughout Southeast Asia and Mongolia, UNODC has partnered with PCIJ to form the network, with support from the Government of Sweden and the US International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The network is created by investigative journalists for investigative journalists. UNODCs role has been to facilitate collaboration, but not lead the formation of the network. JAC is designed to be a self-sustaining network, with devolved national focal points bringing the benefits of regional collaboration to the national level. -
The main objective of this project is to empower civil society and independent media to hold government accountable. This will be achieved by UNODCs support to: 1) Strengthen the two networks that were established with the support of Sweden (SEA-ACN and JAC) to increase their engagement and advance the implementation of the specific action points concerning anti-corruption, human rights and gender equality; 2) Non-state actors to engage in meaningful dialogues with governments in the region to facilitate their participation in decision-making and encourage reforms to better address corruption. The main expected outcomes are: Outcome 1 - Civil society organizations and the media more effectively engage in anti-corruption advocacy/ awareness-raising, and corruption reporting. Output 1.1: Southeast Asia Anti-Corruption Network for Civil Society Organizations (SEA-ACN) empowered to better coordinate advocacy activities for anti-corruption reforms; Output 1.2: Journalists Against Corruption (JAC) has the resources and capacity to better investigate and report on corruption; Output 1.3: Collaboration between SEA-ACN and JAC is supported on a specific anti-corruption topic, including sector-specific corruption issues and cross-cutting topics, such as human rights and gender. Outcome 2 - Non-state actors engage meaningfully with the governments on anti-corruption policy and reforms. Output 2.1: Non-State actors have avenues to formally and directly engage in anti-corruption policy making and advocacy; Output 2.2: Non-State actors and governments are supported to advance implementation of the specific action points concerning anti-corruption, human rights and gender identified in the Regional Roadmap underlying the Regional Platform for Southeast Asia.
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