The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) recognizes the role of civil society in combating corruption under Article 13, by calling on governments to increase transparency, improve public access to information and to promote public contributions to the government decision-making process. 

Civil Society Parallel Report on the implementation of the UNCAC by the Democratic Republic of the Congo

To contribute to the review process of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in its second cycle overing the Chapter II (Preventive Measures) and Chapter V (Asset Recovery), in June 2021, CERC has been commissioned by the UNCAC Coalition to conduct the CSO Parallel assessment of the UNCAC implementation by the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The UNCAC articles and topics that receive particular attention in CERC parallel assessment are those covering preventive anti-corruption policies and practices (Art. 5), preventive anti-corruption bodies (Art. 6), public sector employment (Art. 7.1), codes of conduct, conflicts of interest and asset declarations (Arts. 7, 8 and 12), reporting mechanisms and whistleblower protection (Arts. 8.1 and 8.4 and 13.2), political financing (Art. 7.3), public procurement (Art. 9.1), the management of public finances (Art.9), judiciary and prosecution service (Art. 11), private sector transparency (Art. 12), access to information and participation of society (Arts. 10 and 13.1), and measures to prevent money laundering (Art. 14). It also covers the articles covering anti-money laundering (Arts. 52 and 58), measures for direct recovery of property (Arts. 53 and 56), confiscation tools (Art. 54), international cooperation for purposes of confiscation (Arts. 51, 54, 55, 56 and 59) and the return and disposal of confiscated property (Art. 57).

As a first step, CERC met between June 11 to December 1st 2021 with state and non-state actors to assess the implementation of UNCAC provisions by the Democratic Republic of Congo in law and practice. Finally, CERC research experts used collected information to produce the civil society parallel report that highlights the Democratic Republic of Congo’s efforts, evidence of good practices, and gaps in the implementation of preventive and punitive anti-corruption and asset recovery measures since the DRC’s ratification of the UNCAC.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a ratifier of the United Nations Convention against Corruption since September 23, 2010. By ratifying this binding international instrument, the DRC has committed itself to promoting and strengthening measures to prevent and combat corruption more effectively.

This project is supported by the UNCAC Coalition and made possible through funding provided by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Danida).