CEELI and IFES Produce New Anti-Corruption Tools

The CEELI Institute was delighted to once again join forces with our long term project partner, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES)—on this occasion to co-sponsor a Side Event for the UN General Assembly Special Session on Corruption (UNGASS), on Why Peer Review Fails, an expert dialogue and panel to launch our new joint publication, Piercing the Veil: Using Peer Review Reports in the Fight Against Corruption. This newly published Guide examines how to more effectively use and apply the country Peer Review Mechanism Reports that are routinely produced as part of the UNCAC and GRECO anticorruption peer review mechanisms.

These mechanisms provide detailed assessments of a country’s compliance with the relevant treaty requirements and note gaps in such compliance. Despite the detail that goes into the production of the peer review report, they are often underutilized in the fight against corruption. The Guide seeks to change that. It provides concrete guidance on how civil society organizations and others can transform these peer reviews and assessment reports into action. The Guide also provides practical information on how anti-corruption advocates can better learn about and understand the reviews processed by UNCAC and GRECO, and the reviews themselves. How can they better synthesize those reviews and recommendations to extract key messages, and increase public awareness of the peer reviews?  How can they amplify those messages and finally, what are the best ways to identify practical actions to implement those recommendations in their home countries? The Guide is an outgrowth of our ongoing anti-corruption projects with IFES in Europe and Africa, funded by the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Read the full guide here.