Stronger measures needed against illicit financial flows

Vienna, 10 March 2022 – The members UNCAC Coalition and the below organisations and individuals express their solidarity with the people of Ukraine, currently facing a shocking attack on their country. The UNCAC Coalition is a global network of anti-corruption organisations committed to human rights and democracy.

We condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a gross violation of international law and human rights. It is an affront to the United Nations Charter principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity and non-intervention in the domestic affairs of other States, which are principles reiterated in the UN Convention against Corruption. 

Too often, threats to international peace, security and human rights go hand-in-hand with large-scale corruption involving high-level officials, powerful oligarchs and international networks of collaborators. All those who profit from violations of the rule of law to the detriment of their own citizens and other peoples should be held to account, deprived of their ill-gotten gains and required to compensate the victims of their criminal activities.

In that vein, we call on all countries, and in particular those that host major financial centres, to take swift and concrete steps to stem the flow of stolen money and to trace and freeze illicitly-acquired assets. This should include establishing central public beneficial ownership and company registers, as well as transparency measures, especially in sectors at risk of capture by corrupt interests. 

We stand with our member organisations – Transparency International Ukraine [1], the Anti-Corruption Action Centre [2] (AntAC), and the Institute of Legislative Ideas [3] (IZI), which have played important roles in promoting government transparency and strengthening the democratic system of checks and balances – and call on all relevant actors to protect the safety of activists and provide support to civil society organisations in Ukraine. 

The members of the UNCAC Coalition’s Coordination Committee:

Helen Darbishire (Chair)
Gillian Dell (Vice-Chair)
Samantha Feinstein (Vice-Chair)
Shaazka Beyerle
Andrii Borovyk
Sankhitha Gunaratne
Cissy Kagaba
Chanez Mensous
Pisey Pech
David Ugolor

UNCAC Coalition member organisations and other endorsing organisations:

1. 21st Century Community Empowerment for Youth and Women Initiative, Nigeria
2. 5th Pillar, India
3. Access Info Europe, Spain
4. Accountability Lab, United States
5. Africa Centre for Open Governance, Kenya
6. Africa Freedom of Information Centre, Uganda
7. Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Nigeria
8. Al-Nahrain Foundation for Supporting Transparency and Integrity (NFTI), Iraq
9. Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER), Albania
10. Albanian Institute of Science, Albania
11. Alliance Nationale des Consommateurs et de l’environnement, Togo
12. Anti Corruption Coalition Uganda, Uganda
13. Anti-Corruption Academy Foundation/Fundacja Akademia Antykorupcyjna, Poland
14. Anti-corruption Action Centre AntAC, Ukraine
15. Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa
16. Armenian Lawyers Association, Armenia
17. Article 19, United Kingdom
18. Asociación Acción Ciudadana, El Salvador
19. Asociación civil Japiqay, Memoria y Ciudadanía, Perú
20. Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Argentina
21. Asociación Costa Rica Integra (CRI), Costa Rica
22. Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ), Honduras
23. Association Burundaise des Consommateurs (ABUCO) – TI Burundi, Burundi
24. Bahrain Transparency Society, Bahrain
25. Belize PEACE Movement, Belize
26. Bhutan Transparency Initiative, Bhutan
27. Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, United Kingdom
28. BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University, Bangladesh
29. Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), Nigeria
30. Center for Development and Democratization of Institutions (CCDI), Albania
31. Center for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch, Nigeria
32. Center for International Human Rights, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, United States
33. Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN), Bosnia and Herzegovina
34. Center for Public Integrity – TI Mozambique, Mozambique
35. Center for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria
36. Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism – C4 Center, Malaysia
37. Central Asian Research institute on Corruption and Money Laundering, Kyrgyzstan
38. Centre de Recherche et de Formation sur le Développement Integré (CREFDI), Cote d’Ivoire
39. Centre de Recherche sur l’Anti-Corruption, Democratic Republic of the Congo
40. Centre for Law and Democracy, Canada
41. Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), Pakistan
42. Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI), Bosnia and Herzegovina
43. Centro de Gobernanza Pública y Corporativa, Inc (CGPC), Puerto Rico
44. Christian Aid, United Kingdom
45. CiFAR – Civil Forum for Asset Recovery, Germany
46. Civic Alliance, Montenegro
47. CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, South Africa 
48. Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Nigeria
49. Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, India
50. Coordinating Assembly of NGOs (CANGO), Kingdom of Eswatini / Swaziland
51. CReDO –  Resource Center for Human Rights, Moldova
52. DATA Uruguay, Uruguay
53. Derechos Humanos y Litigio Estratégico Mexicano (DLM), México
54. Freedom of Information Center, Armenia
55. Fundación Ciudadanía y Desarrollo, Ecuador
56. Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad, Argentina
57. Fundación Multitudes, Chile
58. Fundación Nacional para el Desarrollo (FUNDE), El Salvador
59. Fundación Poder Ciudadano, Argentina
60. Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego / Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland
61. Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Ghana
62. Ghana Integrity Initiative – TI  Ghana, Ghana
63. Global Financial Integrity, United States
64. Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, Switzerland
65. Global Witness, United Kingdom
66. Gong, Croatia
67. Government Accountability Project, United States
68. Gram Bharati Samiti (GBS), India
69. Hivos, Netherlands
70. I WATCH, Tunisia
71. Impunidad Cero, México
72. Indonesia Corruption Watch, Indonesia
73. Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM), Albania
74. Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, Georgia
75. Institute for Public Policy Research, Namibia
76. Institute for Security Studies, South Africa
77. Institute of Legislative Ideas, Ukraine
78. Institute of Public Finance, Croatia
79. Instituto Panameño de Derecho y Nuevas Tecnologías (IPANDETEC), Panama
80. International Lawyers Project, United Kingdom
81. Jordan Transparency Center, Jordan
82. Journalist for Human Rights, North Macedonia
83. Kemitraan bagi Pembaruan Tata Pemerintahan (The Partnership for Governance Reform), Indonesia
84. Kosovo Democratic Institute – TI Kosovo, Kosovo
85. Kuwait Transparency Society, Kuwait
86. Malaysian Society for Transparency and Integrity – TI Malaysia, Malaysia
87. Manushya Foundation, Thailand
88. Mexicanos contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad, México
89. Netherlands Helsinki Committee, The Netherlands
90. Observatório de Economia e Gestão de Fraude (OBEGEF), Portugal
91. Open Contracting Partnership, USA
92. Oživeni, z.s, Czech Republic
93. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT), Pakistan
94.  Participación Ciudadana, Dominican Republic
95.  Partners Albania for Change and Development, Albania
96.  Partnership for Justice, Nigeria
97.  Pro Public, Nepal
98. Protimos, United Kingdom / Sub Saharan Africa
99. Rights Jessore, Bangladesh
100. Riinvest, Kosovo
101. Romanian Academic Society, Romania
102. Semillas para la Democracia, Paraguay
103. Sherpa, France
104. Social Watch, Benin
105. Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Nigeria
106. South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS), Bangladesh
107. Studies & Economic Media Center, Yemen
108. Syri i Vizionit, Kosovo
109. Tearfund, United Kingdom
110. The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity-AMAN – Transparency Palestine, Palestine
111. The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, Malta
112. Tojil A.C, Mexico
113. Transparencia por Colombia, Colombia
114. Transparency International 
115. Transparency International Austria
116. Transparency International Armenia
117. Transparency International Australia
118. Transparency International Bangladesh
119. Transparency International Cambodia
120. Transparency International France
121. Transparency International Georgia
122. Transparency International Germany
123. Transparency International Moldova
124. Transparency International Nepal
125. Transparency International New Zealand
126. Transparency International North Macedonia
127. Transparency International Pakistan
128. Transparency International South Korea
129. Transparency International Sri Lanka
130. Transparency International Taiwan
131. Transparency International Uganda
132. Transparency International United Kingdom
133. Transparency International Ukraine
134. Transparency Maroc, Morocco
135. Transparency Mauritius, Mauritius
136. Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute, Trinidad and Tobago 
137. UMTAPO Centre, South Africa
138. Uzbek Forum for Human Rights, Germany
139. World Society of Victimology, Canada
140. Vouliwatch, Greece
141. Water Governance Institute (WGI), Uganda
142. Wildlife Justice Commission, Netherlands
143. World Justice Project, United States
144. Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights, Yemen

Individual UNCAC Coalition members and other endorsing anti-corruption practitioners

1. Alvarez T, Claudia – Dominican Republic, Activist
2. Bejakovic, Predrag – Croatia, Senior Researcher, Institute of Public Finance
3. Bornstein, Aaron – Netherlands, Corruption-assets Restitution Expert
4. Carr, Indira – United Kingdom, Research Professor of Law, University of Surrey
5. Esadze, Londa – Georgia, Senior International Anti-corruption Expert
6. Henderson, Keith E. – United States, Adjunct Professor, American University Washington College of Law
7. Loi, Kheng Min – Malaysia, President, Association of Anti-Bribery Management System Practitioners 
8. Nishitani, Makiko – Japan, Associate Professor, Kobe University
9. O’Connell, Michael – Australia, Consulting Victimologist
10. Olaya García, Juanita – Germany, Chair, UNCAC Coalition Working Group on Victims of Corruption
11. Omar Alhatef, Taher – Yemen, Human Rights Activist
12. Platzer, Michael – Austria, President, International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Solutions to Global Challenges
13. Roht-Arriaza, Naomi – United States, Distinguished Professor of Law (emeritus), University of California
14. Salcedo Albert, Tomás – Canada, Consultant
15. Soloviov, Viktor – Ukraine, Expert
16. Spakova, Andrea – Czech Republic, Advocacy and Campaign Associate, Manushya Foundation
17. Su, Xuhong – United States, Associate professor, University of South Carolina, Columbia
18. Syarif, Laode M. – Indonesia, Executive Director, The Partnership for Governance Reform (KEMITRAAN)
19. Tsabala, Kristina – Bulgaria, Analyst
20. Yeh, Kevin I. J. – Taiwan, Vice Chair of TI Taiwan
21. Zaman, Iftekhar – Bangladesh, Executive Director, Transparency International Bangladesh