EU and UNODC held their third Anti-Corruption Dialogue

On 19 November, the European Commission's department for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) held the third EU-UNODC Anti-Corruption Dialogue in Brussels.

The Anti-Corruption Dialogue was initiated in 2022 as a follow-up to the 16th EU-UNODC Senior Officials Meeting. It provides a platform to discuss common priorities and challenges and agree on future cooperation to prevent and combat corruption.

This year's Dialogue explored the collaboration between the EU and UNODC on anti-corruption in their strategies, policies, and programmes. Participantsidentified common priorities and challenges, and discussed further collaboration on the fight against corruption linked to organised crime (including drug trafficking), crimes that affect the environment, new technologies, and Global Gateway investments. The goal is to work together more effectively, including in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, and Neighbourhoods East and South.

The prevention and fight against corruption are priorities in EU political strategies and in policy documents such as the Joint Communication on the fight against corruption and the proposal for an EU Directive on combating corruption. To achieve these goals, the EU adopted numerous initiatives, including the annual EU Rule of Law Report, the review of its implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and its participation to multilateral fora.In November, the EU published a study assessing corruption riskswithin the EU in preparation of the first EU anti-corruption strategy. The study aims to maximise the impact of EU actions.

UNODC, has extensive knowledge and expertise in assisting Member States in preventing and combating corruption. In recent years, UNODC strengthened its field presence through the regional anti-corruption hubs and platforms. The organisation also organises the training over 2,000 anti-corruption practitioners from over 80 countries per year in preventing, detecting, investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating corruption cases.

Among the results of last year's Anti-Corruption Dialogue, the EU and UNODC created Anti-Corruption Partnership Forum, which brings together international organisations to exchange on policy matters, knowledge development, technical assistance delivery and peer review mechanisms.

Next steps

EU and UNODC agreed on a number of follow-up actions. These include continued collaboration on the EU Network against Corruption and the Anti-Corruption Partnership Forum, mutual staff exchanges and continued contribution to anti-corruption policies, tools and campaigns.

Participants also shared ideas on how to engage in the upcoming 11th Conference of the States Parties to United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in 2025, including through the side events, for example on whistleblower protection.