“Anti-corruption” within the UN Global Compact Initiative

Alessia Sabbatino, Secretary General, Global Compact Network Italy Foundation

The UN Global Compact: the Origins

"I propose that you, the leaders of global business, and we, the United Nations, initiate aglobal compact of shared values and principles, which will give a human face to theglobal market”

(Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, World Economic Forum, January 1999, Davos)

The UN Global Compact: the Rational

The UN Global Compact: Vision and Goals

Integration of Sustainability into Business: the Ten Principles

Source: Global Compact – Business against Corruption, a framework for action, 2006

Contribution to Development: the SDGs

Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainabledevelopment, provide access to justice for all and buildeffective, accountable and inclusive institutions at alllevels

Targets Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere. End abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children. Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for

all. By 2030, significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of

stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime. Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms. Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels. Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. Broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global

governance. By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration. Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national

legislation and international agreements. Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through international cooperation, for building

capacity at all levels, in particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat terrorismand crime.

Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.

The UNGC Ten Principles and theSDGs: Making Connections

Source: UN Global Compact

“Freedom of association and collective bargaining” – captured in the UN Global Compact’s third

principle – offers perhaps another illustrative example. In Ethiopia, a large international apparel

company is partnering with an overseas development agency to ensure wider adoption of collective

bargaining in the broader textile sector with the clear objective of improving working conditions and

reducing inequality – in other words, advancing SDG #1, #8 and #9 and related targets.

In this light, the following graphic illustrates some of the primary linkages between the UN Global

Compact’s Ten Principles and the SDGs. It must be emphasized that the graphic is not intended to

capture all connections and relationships; indeed, many principles are profoundly cross-cutting in

nature.12

The UN Global Compact Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals

This graphic illustrates some of the primary linkages between the UN Global Compact Ten Principles and the contribution that these can make towards the achievement of the SDGs. By respecting and supporting universal

principles, UN Global Compact business participants can play an important role in helping to realize the SDGs.

12 See: www.ilo.org

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Towards a New (and More Comprehensive) Approach….

Current Activities

Working Group on the 10th Principle

- Global Multi-stakeholder group with reps mainly from business, but also from GC LNs,civil society, business organizations, and PRME that meet twice per year to discuss AC &Compliance issues, and how companies can implement the 10th Principle;

- The group has led the development of tools/resources on specific topics (e.g. Guide onRisk Assessment, Fighting corruption in the Supply Chain, Corruption in Sportsponsorship & Hospitality, Reporting on the 10th Principle, etc).

- The last in person meeting of the WG was held in Nairobi, Kenya and had theattendance of the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, and over 400 businessparticipants.

- To join and see list of members, please visit: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/take-action/action/anti-corruption-working-group

Anti-Corruption Collective Action

Under the Siemens Integrity Initiative [SII], the UN Global Compact has been working toadvance Anti-Corruption Collective Action (AC CA) efforts at the local level. For the secondfunding round of the SII, the UNGC is currently working on two projects that have startedin July 2015 and will end in 2018:

1. In partnership with the Egyptian Junior Business Association, the UN Global Compact isworking on a project aimed at establishing a multi-stakeholder, business-led IntegrityNetwork in the country. The project will focus on building the capacity of SMEs on Anti-Corruption issues and on creating an inventory of incentives by MNEs for SMEs toimplement robust AC compliance programmes.

2. In collaboration with the Basel Institute for Governance, the UN Global Compact isworking on strengthening the capacity of 4 GC Local Networks (Brazil, Nigeria, Japan (TBC),Kenya) to undertake AC CA initiatives. The project will focus on identifying main ACchallenges, stakeholders and opportunities for collective action, and building trustamongst stakeholders while increasing the knowledge of the LN and its participants on ACCA.

Current Activities

Training and Capacity-building for LNs and GC participantsWe are currently in the process of organizing upcoming trainings in Colombia, India andGuatemala on how to conduct an Anti- corruption Risk Assessment. These trainings arebased on our guide “A Guide for Anti-corruption Risk Assessment”, which was publishedin 2014. So far, we have conducted trainings for our Local Networks in Nigeria, Brazil,Egypt and Kenya.

Sports, Corruption & Human RightsDiscussions currently underway with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) andTransparency International to explore opportunities in these cross-sectoral areas and toupdate the current guide “Fighting Corruption in Sport Sponsorship and Hospitality” sothat it has a broader scope.

Current Activities

Past Activities

Advocacy work through the Call to Action: Anti-corruption and the GlobalDevelopment Agenda (CtA)The CtA is an appeal from business and investors to governments to implement policiesand practices for good governance and anti-corruption. The initiative was open forsignature from 2014 through end of 2015 and garnered 309 signatories, 280 companiesand 29 investors representing 3.5 trillion USD of assets under management.The CtA’s five main appeals pertain to transparency and accountability in publicprocurement, implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, and support forcollective action efforts. The CTA highlights how achieving these five appeals,contributes to achieving the SDGs, in particular SDG 16. This initiative is still ongoing andhas several supporter organizations.

AC Tools and Resources

The Global Compact in collaboration with various partners has developed extensive guidance onvarious topics that can assist companies in integrating a culture of ethics and compliance and

implementing Anti-corruption measures. Available resources include:

Business Against Corruption – A Framework for Action

Reporting Guidance on the 10th Principle

A Guide for Anti-Corruption Risk Assessment

A Practical Guide for Collective Action against Corruption

Guide on “Investor – Corporate Engagement on Anti-corruption”

Stand together against Corruption – A practical guide to help prevent corruption in thesupply chain

E-learning Tool for companies (certificate course): http://thefightagainstcorruption.org/

For additional resources, please click here or visit:https://www.unglobalcompact.org/library

Upcoming Tools & Resources

- Guide on Whistleblower Programmes

- Good practice note on “Integrating Human Rights into Anti-corruption Compliance”

- Guide for Chief Compliance Officers on Corporate Sustainability