socialmedian: Row over civil groups threatens to block UN convention on corruption

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Row over civil groups threatens to block UN convention on corruption

Source: The Guardian

Nov 08, 2009

Summary

International governments divided ahead of bid to finalise legislation at Qatar conference

International negotiators will meet this week in Qatar in an attempt to finalise the world's first and only international corruption convention, in the face of ongoing acrimony over the roles pressure groups should be allowed to play if the treaty comes into effect.

Signed in 2005, the UN's Convention against Corruption, known as Uncac, has yet to be fully implemented. Nearly 1,000 representatives of dozens of governments have flown to Jordan and Bali, staying for five days at top hotels at a conservative cost of £2m. Hundreds of others have taken part in sessions in Vienna.

But there is anger at the barring of two civil-society groups from Georgia and Algeria. And a host of countries, thought to include Russia, China and Iran, are threatening to block the convention because of the possible involvement of campaigning organisations in a peer review mechanism designed to ensure the convention has teeth.

Anthea Lawson, a campaigner at anti-corruption group Global Witness, said

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