STATEMENT
By
his Excellency Mr. Yerzhan Kh.
Kazykhanov
Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Please allow me to express our gratitude to the
National Organizing Committee and the Government of Mexico for their warm
hospitality and excellent organization of such milestone conference.
Mr. Chairman,
In today's world, corruption has become
one of the most pressing problems facing practically all states.
Corruption jeopardizes the rule of law,
democracy and human rights; undermines moral values, principles of good governance,
equality and social justice; hampers competition; and impedes economic development.
In the final analysis, it threatens national security.
This is a transnational problem and to
address it in an effective way, a global approach is required.
The past few years have seen a strong
foundation being laid for the building of a more effective international response
to this problem.
This year the United Nations Member States
have successfully concluded negotiations of the United Nations Convention
against Corruption, which is now open for signature. We welcome that the new
Convention follows an innovative approach that, along with introducing commonly
recognized standards of fighting corruption, addresses specific concerns of
many countries and bridges gaps in the way corruption is understood in different
societies. Let me commend in this regard the work of the Ad Hoc Committee
on the negotiations of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which
was able to elaborate standards that are comprehensive in scope and global
in application.
Mr. Chairman,
The United Nations Convention stipulates
that each State party shall adopt such measures as may be necessary to establish
its jurisdiction over the offences covered by the Convention. In this context,
I would like to briefly review some of the measures being taken in
In 1994, a Presidential Anti-Corruption
Commission was set up in
In 1998, an Anti-Corruption Law was adopted
in the country, obligating all state institutions and officials to fight that evil within their terms of reference. In accordance
with that Law a comprehensive and phase-by-phase State Anti-Corruption Programme
has been established in the country. Its objective is to strengthen the legislative
framework, to adopt preemptive and preventive anti-corruption measures and
to improve the efficiency of the law-enforcement bodies and the judicial system.
The Programme
focuses on better accountability of state bodies in the fight against corruption
and social partnership between different branches of government and institutions
of the civil society in the solution of the problem.
Work is underway in the country to reduce
bureaucracy at all levels, to strengthen independence of courts and judges,
to significantly raise the salaries of civil servants and at the same time
to ensure "transparency" of their work and also to further improve
the anticorruption legislation.
In other words, the fight against corruption
receives constant and close attention in our country.
Mr. Chairman,
As corruption represents one of the most
significant challenges to the international community today, it is important
that countries are bound by the Convention to provide mutual legal assistance
and support the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds
of corruption.
As there is no universal model or anti-corruption
practice that suits all countries, we believe that each national jurisdiction
needs to explore practices drawn from a variety of international options.
Since strategies to fight corruption do not reside solely with criminal justice
but rather should be considered in a broader context of sustainable development,
we strongly believe that the international response to this phenomenon should
be multidimensional and address the economic and social roots of corruption.
In this regard, a comprehensive framework
for technical anti-corruption cooperation will be instrumental in channelling assistance to countries in the areas of anti-corruption
strategy development, capacity-building, raising public awareness and strengthening
criminal justice systems. United Nations activity in this field, supported
by international financial and business institutions as well as agencies dealing
with development, human rights and other relevant issues, could bring about
positive and measurable results in preventing and fighting corruption.
Mr. Chairman,
The significance of the United Nations
Convention against Corruption can not be overestimated. It provides a blueprint
for preventing and fighting corruption by obligating states that ratify it
to improve not only their domestic arrangements but also the mechanisms of
their cooperation with other countries.
It is for this reason that
In conclusion, I would like once again
to thank the Government of Mexico for its generosity and excellence displayed
in arranging this meeting.
Thank you for your attention.