The United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) is the only legally binding international anti-corruption multilateral treaty.

Negotiated by member states of the United Nations (UN) it was adopted by the UN General Assembly in October 2003 and entered into force in December 2005.

The Convention further calls for the participation of civil society and non-governmental organisations in accountability processes and underlines the importance of citizens' access to information.

Chapter II includes preventive policies, such as the establishment of anti-corruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties.

For these reasons, UNCAC calls on countries to promote actively the involvement of civil society, and to raise public awareness of corruption and what can be done about it.

Furthermore, parties are required to simplify rules pertaining to evidence of corrupt behavior by, inter alia, ensuring that obstacles that may arise from the application of bank secrecy laws are overcome.

In the area of law enforcement, UNCAC calls for better cooperation between national and international bodies and civil society.

Under Chapter IV of UNCAC, States Parties are obliged to assist one another in every aspect of the fight against corruption, including prevention, investigation, and prosecution of offenders.

Based on Chapter IV, UNCAC itself can be used as a basis for extradition, mutual legal assistance and law enforcement concerning corruption-related offences.

In order to ensure speedy and efficient cooperation, each State Party is required to designate a central authority responsible for receiving MLA requests.

[8] The agreement on asset recovery is considered a major breakthrough and many observers claim that it is one of the reasons why so many developing countries have signed UNCAC.

[9] Asset recovery is indeed a very important issue for many developing countries where high-level corruption has plundered the national wealth.

The provisions on asset recovery lay a framework, in both civil and criminal law, for tracing, freezing, forfeiting and returning funds obtained through corrupt activities.

Article 54(1)(a) of UNCAC provides that: "Each State Party (shall)... take such measures as may be necessary to permit its competent authorities to give effect to an order of confiscation issued by a court of another state party" Indeed, Article 54(2)(a) of UNCAC also provides for the provisional freezing or seizing of property where there are sufficient grounds for taking such actions in advance of a formal request being received.

At its different sessions, besides regularly calling States Parties and signatories to adapt their laws and regulations to bring them into conformity with the provisions of UNCAC[12][13] the CoSP has adopted resolutions and has mandated UNODC to implement them, including through the development of technical assistance projects.

[28] In accordance with Article 63(7) of UNCAC, "the Conference shall establish, if it deems necessary, any appropriate mechanism or body to assist in the effective implementation of the Convention".

In July 2010 the IRG met for the first time in Vienna and adopted the guidelines for governmental experts[30] and the UNCAC secretariat – the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) – in the conduct of a country review.

The second cycle was launched in November 2015 and is currently underway, covering Chapters II and V, reviewing corruption prevention measures and asset recovery.

Furthermore, the Coalition seeks to advance discussions on key issues covered by the convention, including: It aims to mobilize broad civil society support for UNCAC and to facilitate strong civil society action at national, regional and international levels in support of UNCAC.

Fully implementing its provisions presents significant challenges for the international community as well as individual States parties, particularly in relation to the innovative areas of UNCAC.