Middle Point, End of the Road or Just the Beginning? Anticorruption Efforts, Failures and Promises at the United Nations

Abstract

Although first noted discussions at the United Nations (UN) level about corruption are reaching their 50th anniversary, the core of the UN activity against corruption has taken place in the last quarter of a century. The 2021 special debate at the UN General Assembly was an opportunity for the institution to pause and reflect about its role over this period in the international fight against corruption. It also presented a (partially missed) opportunity for the UN to renew its commitment and reconsider its approach for the next 25 years. This article provides first an overview of the UN activity against corruption, which relies on two main pillars. On the one hand, the well-known United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC)1 in force since 2005, which has received remarkable academic attention and is an example of success in terms of ratifications. On the other hand, the insertion in Sustainable Development Goal 16 of an anticorruption objective (16.5) and its related indicators, which is not as widely acknowledged by anticorruption activists and scholars but serves as a recognition of the importance of tackling corruption in the development context. The article offers a historical contextualisation of both initiatives, analyses this dual approach and explores the impact of these initiatives in the global and domestic contexts. Based on previous research from the author, it highlights their joint value as a true global statement against corruption and an authoritative recognition of its damaging effects and their importance for peace, security, development, human rights and human wellbeing. The article presents, nevertheless, a critical analysis showing their shortcomings and the lack of a real effect of these instruments in overcoming or at least reducing corruption and kleptocracy at the international level. It proposes three different avenues within the UN mandate and fields of action that could guide newer initiatives. First, it explores the possibility of individual (non-criminal) ‘smart’ sanctions, modelled on the counter-terrorism regime driven by national governments, but assisted by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Second, the article considers how the economic and trade dimension of the UN, especially at the regional economic commissions level, could be reinvigorated with a mandate to tackle corruption through economic instruments. Third, it analyses how an optional protocol to the UNCAC could give more ‘teeth’ to the Convention. The general conclusion is that the UN, within its existing powers, has significant potential to take anticorruption initiatives a step further as the current ones have almost exhausted their shelf life.