09/12/2009 11:39
A conference on Anti-Corruption Efforts to be held in Yerevan
A conference timed to the International Anti-Corruption Day will be held in Yerevan, today, December 9. Numerous Armenia’s officials and foreign representatives will participate in the Conference on Anti-Corruption Efforts including Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, Attorney General Aghvan Hovsepyan, and the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Jovanovich.
On 31 October 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption and requested that the Secretary-General designate the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as secretariat for the Convention's Conference of States parties (resolution 58/4). The Assembly also designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it. The Convention entered into force in December 2005.
The Convention had been signed by Armenia in 2003. Before, Armenia has ratified the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in Message for International Anti-Corruption Day, cites Convention as the strongest way to fight graft and build integrity. “Don’t let corruption kill development. On International Corruption Day 2009, I urge all people to join the UN anti-corruption campaign. And I encourage everyone to make a pledge: never to offer or accept a bribe. Live by that motto, and the world will be a more honest place – and we will increase the chances of reaching the Millennium Development Goals.”