Alliance for Integrity at seventh Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption

The Alliance for Integrity has taken part in the 7th Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in Vienna, Austria, from 6 to 10 November 2017.

Alliance for Integrity’s participation at the conference kicked off with a panel discussion on the role of academia in enhancing business integrity on Wednesday, 8 November. The panel focused on the UNODC Education for Justice (E4J) initiative, adopted during the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in the ambit of education as a tool to prevent crime and corruption. Particular attention was given to the role of universities in equipping future generations with the skills needed to conduct business with integrity and avoid corrupt behaviour. Noor Naqschbandi, Director of the Alliance for Integrity, contributed to the debate as panelist, highlighting the relevance of academia as both knowledge provider and educator. He also stressed Alliance for Integrity’s commitment to foster cultures of integrity by collaborating with academia and research institutions, reflected in the integration of these actors into the initiative’s governance structure and in the joint development of knowledge products. Amongst the panelists were Sigal Horovitz, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at UNODC’s Corruption and Economic Crime Branch, Gonzalo Guzman, Director of Anti-Corruption Governance and External Engagement at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Prof. Daniel Malan, Head of the Centre for Corporate Governance in Africa at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (E4J consultant). Julia Pilgrim, EJ4 Team Leader at UNODC, moderated the panel.

The following day, the Alliance for Integrity held the panel ‘Promoting Integrity in State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs): Trends and Challenges’. The panel reflected on high integrity risks SOEs face, given their proximity to governments, their business activities in corruption-prone sectors, and their governance structure. Accordingly, leading questions of the panel centred on possible solutions for SOEs’ integrity challenges. Also private sector solutions to cope with high integrity risks as well as digitalisation were discussed as possible measures to mitigate SOEs most pressing integrity risks. By the same token, the Alliance for Integrity’s SOEs compliance training, already successfully conducted in Argentina and Brazil, were mentioned as a way to increase integrity in SOEs. Noor Naqschbandi led the panel consisting of speakers from the private, public but also civil society sector. Amongst them were Fernanda Nan, Global Compliance Manager at Sowitec, Katja Bechtel, Head of Business Integrity at Transparency International, Nicolas Lagos, Adviser at General Controller of Chile, and Maria Soledad Urri, Head of the Ethics and Transparency Department at Trenes Argentinos. Towards the end of the debate, panel attendees were invited to participate in the discussion.

The 7th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption comprised approximately 48 on site-special events taking place in the Vienna International Centre organised by Governments, Departments and Agencies of the United Nations, Intergovernmental and Non-Governmental Organizations and UNODC. Please find more information about the conference here.