A/CONF. 187/9 I. Introduction (c) Prevention and best practices (d) Recommended executive, law enforcement 1. The topic of corruption has long been a priority of legislative, private sector, civil society and international the Commission on Crime prevention and criminal measures Justice. The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has been 5. The sessions of the workshop will aim at promoting entrusted with the organization of a workshop or the best practices approach advocated in the global combating corruption within the framework of the Programme, by bringing such practices to the attention Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of of potential donor and recipient countries. Particular Crime and the Treatment of Offenders The attention will be devoted to issues of prevention, taking preparatory work for the workshop has included, in into consideration their potential effectiveness in cooperation with the International Scientific and raising the risk of being caught when combined with Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations (a) a strong political will; (b)increased balancing of power across the legislative, judiciary and executive, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, (c)an empowered civil society; and(d) the existence of the organization of an International Conference on free and independent media with access to information Responding to Challenges of Corruption in Milan Italy, on 19 and 20 November 1999 to confront corruption 2. In its resolution 54/128 of 17 December 1999 entitled"Action against corruption", the General II. Aspects and causes of corruption Assembly stressed the need for a global strategy against corruption, and invited Member States to 6. There is a general consensus that, although the most examine the adequacy of their domestic legal regimes serious consequences to the economic and social in terms of preventing and controlling corruption and development of a country are likely to come from the providing for forfeiture of the proceeds of corruption pread of corruption at the upper levels, citizens 3. The Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention of perception is related for the most part to their own the Secretariat has recently launched a Global Pro- first-hand experience with public administration at the gramme against Corruption(E/CN. 15/1999/CRP 3), to "street"level. While bribery was seen for many years be undertaken jointly by the Centre for International as a way of getting things done in most developing Crime Prevention and uNiCri The Global countries and countries with economies in transition Programme is aimed at assisting Member States in this"greasing the wheel" syndrome has turned into their efforts to curb corruption through two sanding the wheel". This change in perception is due components, assessment and technical cooperation in part:(a)at the international level, to the recent The first component involves the development of a economic crisis in Asia, which, according to many corruption-monitoring protocol for a thorough experts, was triggered in part by inadequate corporate assessment of corruption at all levels, while the second governance practices(e.g. inadequate accountability omponent envisages the implementation of a set of and transparency)and(b)at the national level, to the chnical assistance activities aimed at building and/or fact that citizens who give bribes are actually less strengthening institutional capacity to prevent, detect, likely to be satisfied with the service received than investigate and repress corruption those not paying bribes, as shown by data from surveys in Uganda(1998), Ukraine(1999)and the United 4. The workshop on combating corruption will adopt Republic of Tanzania(1997). In the United Republic of the multidisciplinary approach advocated in the Global Tanzania, survey participants who did not pay a bribe Programme and discussed at the Milan Conference according to the following structure were 2.9 times as likely to find a higher level of service provided On the other hand, those who paid bribes (a) Aspects and causes of corruption: the three were 1.7 times more likely to receive poor service than levels of corruption, the organized crime nexus, good service. In fact only 13 per cent of those surveyed (b) Measures against corruption at the international paid a bribe and received good service and national levels.A/CONF.187/9 4 I. Introduction 1. The topic of corruption has long been a priority of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has been entrusted with the organization of a workshop on combating corruption within the framework of the Tenth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The preparatory work for the workshop has included, in cooperation with the International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, the organization of an International Conference on Responding to Challenges of Corruption in Milan, Italy, on 19 and 20 November 1999. 2. In its resolution 54/128 of 17 December 1999, entitled “Action against corruption”, the General Assembly stressed the need for a global strategy against corruption, and invited Member States to examine the adequacy of their domestic legal regimes in terms of preventing and controlling corruption and providing for forfeiture of the proceeds of corruption. 3. The Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention of the Secretariat has recently launched a Global Pro￾gramme against Corruption (E/CN.15/1999/CRP.3), to be undertaken jointly by the Centre for International Crime Prevention and UNICRI. The Global Programme is aimed at assisting Member States in their efforts to curb corruption through two components, assessment and technical cooperation. The first component involves the development of a corruption-monitoring protocol for a thorough assessment of corruption at all levels, while the second component envisages the implementation of a set of technical assistance activities aimed at building and/or strengthening institutional capacity to prevent, detect, investigate and repress corruption. 4. The workshop on combating corruption will adopt the multidisciplinary approach advocated in the Global Programme and discussed at the Milan Conference, according to the following structure: (a) Aspects and causes of corruption: the three levels of corruption, the organized crime nexus; (b) Measures against corruption at the international and national levels; (c) Prevention and best practices; (d) Recommended executive, law enforcement, legislative, private sector, civil society and international measures. 5. The sessions of the workshop will aim at promoting the best practices approach advocated in the Global Programme, by bringing such practices to the attention of potential donor and recipient countries. Particular attention will be devoted to issues of prevention, taking into consideration their potential effectiveness in raising the risk of being caught when combined with: (a) a strong political will; (b) increased balancing of power across the legislative, judiciary and executive; (c) an empowered civil society; and (d) the existence of free and independent media with access to information to confront corruption. II. Aspects and causes of corruption 6. There is a general consensus that, although the most serious consequences to the economic and social development of a country are likely to come from the spread of corruption at the upper levels, citizens’ perception is related for the most part to their own first-hand experience with public administration at the “street” level. While bribery was seen for many years as a way of getting things done in most developing countries and countries with economies in transition, this “greasing the wheel” syndrome has turned into “sanding the wheel”. This change in perception is due in part: (a) at the international level, to the recent economic crisis in Asia, which, according to many experts, was triggered in part by inadequate corporate governance practices (e.g. inadequate accountability and transparency) and (b) at the national level, to the fact that citizens who give bribes are actually less likely to be satisfied with the service received than those not paying bribes, as shown by data from surveys in Uganda (1998), Ukraine (1999) and the United Republic of Tanzania (1997). In the United Republic of Tanzania, survey participants who did not pay a bribe were 2.9 times as likely to find a higher level of service provided. On the other hand, those who paid bribes were 1.7 times more likely to receive poor service than good service. In fact only 13 per cent of those surveyed paid a bribe and received good service.1