Brussels, 15 April 2008: The ITUC is calling for urgent progress in implementing the UN’s landmark Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in its interventions at the Seventeenth Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) in Vienna.

“This anti-corruption Convention provides a global and comprehensive legal instrument and thereby a unique opportunity for tackling global corruption,” commented ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. “Corruption undermines democracy and development and threatens workers’ rights and livelihoods and the ITUC considers it urgent that the UN register progress in this area.”
In a statement submitted to the 17th Session, the ITUC underlines the urgent need to make progress on UNCAC. The statement calls on the Commission to increase the capacity of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the body with the mandate to assist States Parties in UNCAC implementation. Noting that the decision to create a monitoring mechanism has been postponed until 2009, the ITUC stresses the need for UNODC to strengthen the current system of self-assessment and to take steps to work more participatively by increasing engagement with trade unions and other NGOs in its work.

Finally, the statement draws the attention of the Commission to the harassment of trade unionists who have blown the whistle on corruption. The statement calls on the Commission to consider including in its forthcoming activities a study of possible mechanisms for reporting cases of State harassment of those who expose corruption.

The ITUC statement was presented at the Seventeenth Session by Tanja Buzek of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB).

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates.

For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018