“Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on societies. It undermines democacy and the rule of law, leads to violations of human rights, distorts markets, erodes the quality of life and allows organized crime, terrorism and other threats to human security to flourish.”

Foreword by Kof i A. Annan Former UN Secretary-General

UNCAC was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 31 October 2003.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the first  international law treaty dealing with corruption. Among other obligations, Article 13 stipulates that parties signatory to the treaty should actively promote the participation of civil society in general and NGO’s in particular.

Watchdog of government’s actions and policies
– NGO can monitor and measure progress towards the
implementation of commitments made at the United Nations
World Conferences.
– They have the mandate to hold government accountable and
demand accessto information held by government institutions.
– NGOs are very instrumental in exposing cases of corruption,
fraud or maladministration, at the national as well as
international levels.For example,exposesthe corrupt exploitation
of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive
campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and
human rights and environmental abuses.
2. Monitoring and evaluation of anti-corruption treaties
and conventions:
– the key role of NGOs in the implementation of international
agreements, especially in independently monitoring or
participating in the implementation review ofsuch conventions
3. Networking and coalition building :
– NGOs working on corruption-related issues can coordinate
their efforts and build stronger coalitions. Such coalitions may
gain a coordinating and representative function in national and
international forums.
4. Advocacy
– NGO’s has an important role in advocacy, awareness-raising ,
educating the public and building constituencies backing
anti corruption reforms.
– Their advocacy campaigns can also target their government to
promote signature, ratification and effective implementation of
anti-corruption conventions such as the UNCAC.
5. Other roles
– The above-mentioned functions are not meant to be
comprehensive. NGO’s contribute to the fight against corruption
in a wide variety of other ways such as research and
measurement of corruption, etc.