UPDATED: HM & US INVITE ANEEJ TO VIENNA UNCAC SIDE EVENT AS PANELIST

Background

Building upon the outcomes of the inaugural Global Forum on Asset Recovery (GFAR), this side event will focus on how countries are promoting transparency and accountability in asset recovery processes through successful implementation of the GFAR Principles for Disposition and Transfer of Confiscated Stolen Assets in Corruption Cases.

A panel of experts will focus on several of the GFAR Principles and share experiences and good practices on how their countries have put them into practice through concrete examples to ensure transparency and accountability in the repatriation of recovered assets.

Given ANEEJ work and broader engagement on this issue through the UNCAC Coalition, the United States and the UK governments have invited the Rev David Ugolor to participate on a panel to share lessons learned and best practices from the perspective of civil society.

Other panelists will include representatives from the United Kingdom, the United States, Switzerland, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. A representative from the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) will moderate the panel.

Organisers said that in order to focus the discussion and make optimal use of the collective experience of the panelists, they would do a “talkshow” panel i.e. no presentations/speeches/power points. The event will begin with a first round of short questions for each panelist on a specific GFAR principle. Each panelist will have approximately 2 to 3 minutes maximum to respond to this first round. These will be the likely order of questions:

1. Nigeria (Lilian) on GFAR Principle 1: Partnership
   •  Nigeria will be asked to set the stage and highlight the importance of building trust and confidence between transferring and receiving States using a specific example.
2. Switzerland (Pierre-Yves) on GFAR Principle 3: Early dialogue
   • Switzerland will be asked to provide an example of how early dialogue contributed to a successful AR outcome.
3. CSO ANEEJ (David) on GFAR Principle 10: Inclusion of stakeholders
   • The Rev David Ugolor will be asked how civil society has been included in the monitoring of use of returned assets under the Abacha II MoU.
4. US (Dan) on GFAR Principle 8: UNCAC 57.5 agreements
   • Mr. Dan will be requested to provide an example of such an agreement, highlighting one main challenge encountered and how it was overcome.
5. Sri Lanka (Weli) on GFAR Principle 6: Strengthening anti-corruption and development
   • Organisers will request Weli of Sri Lanka, being at the early stages of asset recovery experience, if there are any concrete development objectives in mind for expected returns.
6. UK (Phil) on GFAR Principle 5: Beneficiaries
   • Mr. Phil will be asked to provide specific examples of end use that benefit the population of victim countries (e.g. recent Kenya return).

The side event is scheduled for June 7, 2018 from 1:15-2:45 at the Vienna International Centre. It will be open to all UNCAC States Parties and invited participants. It will be moderated by Elsa Gopala Krishnan, a professor at the Washington College of Law.

UPDATE

U.K., U.S. Invite Rights Group ANEEJ To Anti-corruption Conference In Vienna

 

http://nigeriantimes.ng/news/us-govt-invites-aneej-to-anti-corruption-forum-in-vienna/

 

 

http://thenationonlineng.net/aneej-director-invited-for-uncac-panel/

 

https://csnewsnetwork.com/hm-us-invite-aneej-to-vienna-uncac-side-event-as-panelist/

 

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