Interpretation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption

Author: Yang Yuguan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: On October 31, 2003, the 58th Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted the "United Nations Convention against Corruption" (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"). In the same year, on December 10, the Chinese government signed the "Convention." This is the first legally binding anti-corruption convention adopted in the history of the United Nations, and it holds positive and significant meaning for countries to strengthen domestic anti-corruption efforts, enhance the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures, and promote international anti-corruption cooperation. Corruption is a chronic ailment of human society. Since the emergence of governance in human society, corruption has appeared. With the acceleration of economic globalization, corruption has become increasingly rampant and has been recognized as one of the greatest scourges of the international community. Preventing and punishing corruption through international cooperation has become a hot topic of universal concern in the international community and among countries. The United Nations has responded to this trend in human historical development by formulating and adopting this "United Nations Convention against Corruption," which holds significant historical and practical importance. The "Convention" is rich in content and has a complete structural system, comprising eight chapters in addition to the preamble: General Provisions, Preventive Measures, Criminalization and Enforcement, International Cooperation, Asset Recovery, Technical Assistance and Information Exchange, Implementation Mechanisms, and Final Provisions. The first article of the "Convention" explicitly states that its objective is to promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more effectively and decisively; to promote, facilitate, and support international cooperation and technical assistance in preventing and combating corruption, including asset recovery; and to advocate integrity, accountability, and proper management of public affairs and public property. Thus, the "Convention" establishes the scientific concepts and strategies for combating corruption, forms the basic principles for globally combating corruption crimes, stipulates the principles for the return of corruptly transferred assets to their countries of origin, and establishes five legal mechanisms for international cooperation in preventing and punishing corruption, namely the preventive mechanism, the criminalization and enforcement mechanism, the international cooperation and law enforcement cooperation mechanism, the asset recovery and tracing mechanism, and the compliance monitoring mechanism. It lays a solid legal foundation for international cooperation in combating corruption and provides basic legal guidelines and action standards for the international anti-corruption struggle.
For our country, combating corruption is a severe political struggle that concerns the life and death of the Party and the state. It is essential to fully recognize the long-term, arduous, and complex nature of the anti-corruption struggle, adopt a comprehensive approach, and focus on addressing the root causes to achieve ultimate victory in the construction of Party discipline and integrity and the fight against corruption. Comrade Hu Jintao emphasized at the third plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, "Establish a sound system that gives equal importance to education, systems, and supervision in combating and preventing corruption, and deepen the promotion of anti-corruption and integrity work." To establish this "scientific system," it is necessary to fully leverage the role of the "United Nations Convention against Corruption," strengthen international cooperation, build a united front against international corruption, and maximize the reduction or even block the survival space for fleeing corrupt officials. Therefore, conducting a systematic study of the "Convention" in a timely manner holds special significance. The "Convention" contains a large amount of litigation law content, such as the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of corruption, as well as the establishment of systems for freezing, confiscating, and returning proceeds of crime as stipulated in the "Convention." These provisions conflict with and gaps in China's criminal procedure law, as well as how to revise and improve China's criminal procedure law and how to implement the relevant content of the "Convention" in China. These issues are of great concern and are actively studied by the legal academia and judicial practice departments.
The Research Center for Litigation Law at China University of Political Science and Law (hereinafter referred to as the "Center") is a new comprehensive research institution specializing in litigation law research and the only research entity designated as a key research base for humanities and social sciences by the Ministry of Education. Since its establishment, the "Center" has made research on foreign, particularly United Nations, criminal justice standards one of its key priorities and has already published two series of books, namely "Human Rights Law—Studies" and "Interpretations." As the third volume in the "Human Rights and Criminal Justice Standards Series" edited by the "Center," the research team was organized to conduct a systematic study of the "Convention." The compilation of the "Interpretations" was an arduous and large-scale project. To ensure quality, quantity, and speed, the project team meticulously planned, formulated a research approach, and actively collected materials. Based on this, all researchers held multiple meetings for collective discussions, pooling their wisdom and dividing tasks for writing. The researchers even gave up their rest time during the Spring Festival and devoted themselves to intensive research and writing. In just five short months, a manuscript of over 500,000 words on the "Interpretations" was delivered to my desk. Looking at this heavy manuscript, which embodies the hard work and dedication of the researchers, as the director of the "Center," I am deeply moved and also feel proud.
This book provides the full text of the "United Nations Convention against Corruption," elaborating on its background, scope of application, and interpreting the content related to criminal procedure law, criminal law, civil law, and international law.