International Cooperation
International Cooperation in the Fight Against Corruption
Successful international cooperation is required to eradicate the corrosive effects of corruption. The United Nations Convention
against Corruption offers a strong framework for the States to engage in international cooperation at both the informal and
formal levels.
One of the central goals of the Convention is to promote, facilitate and support international cooperation in the fight
against corruption. Chapter IV of the Convention contains detailed provisions on the main modalities of international cooperation
in criminal matters, such as extradition, mutual legal assistance and the transfer of sentenced persons; it also covers law
enforcement cooperation, joint investigations and special investigative techniques. Moreover, the Convention in its article
43 requires States Parties to consider assisting each other in investigations of an proceedings in civil and administrative
matters where appropriate and consistent with their domestic legal system.
The Conference of the States Parties decided, in 2011, to convene special open-ended
intergovernmental expert meetings on international cooperation. Such meetings aim to facilitate the exchange of experiences
among States, to disseminate information on good practices in order to strengthen capacities at the national level and to
build confidence and encourage cooperation between requesting and requested States by bringing together competent authorities,
anti-corruption bodies and practitioners involved in extradition and mutual legal assistance.
A considerable amount of information has been accumulated as a result of the review process and organized in thematic reports
on the implementation of Chapter IV. The secretariat
has also produced the State of Implementation
of the United Nations Convention against Corruption study outlining the major observations with regard to international
cooperation in corruption cases.
UNODC Work to Facilitate International Cooperation in the Fight Against Corruption
UNODC continues to promote and facilitate international cooperation between States parties based on the Convention. It
regularly conducts capacity building training sessions for practitioners and updates its state of the art technical tools
and resources.
UNODC maintains an online directory of national central
authorities for international cooperation, its TRACK (Tools and Resources for Anti-Corruption Knowledge) portal contains
the legislation of States Parties pertinent to international cooperation and UNODC's UNCAC country
profiles page contains in-depth information pertaining to the outcomes of the review process.
UNODC has also developed several practical assistance tools including
handbooks, training manuals, model laws, digests of relevant case law and legal commentaries, a mutual
legal assistance request writer tool and other materials aimed at facilitating international cooperation and improving
the capacity of States to cooperate in transnational corruption cases.
Through its StAR Initiative with the World Bank, UNODC continues to provide
a targeted assistance related to international cooperation in the context of asset recovery.
Please contact us for more information.
Corruption involving vast quantities of assets
Global Expert Group Meeting on Corruption involving Vast Quantities
of Assets, Oslo, Norway, 12-14 June 2019
Expert Group Meeting on Transparency in Political Finance,
Prague, Czechia, 21 May 2019
Global Expert Group Meeting on Corruption involving Vast Quantities
of Assets, Lima, Peru, 3-5 December 2018
