VZCZCXRO2163
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #0877/01 0831234
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 231234Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6390
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 000877 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
ECON/I, NEA/I, INL/I, IO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAID IZ KCOR PGOV PREL SOCI
SUBJECT: UN ANTI-CORRUPTION CONFERENCE (MARCH 17-18, 2008) 
 
REFTEL: BAGHDAD 00069 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  As part of its portfolio of activities to support 
good governance, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in 
coordination with the office of Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, 
organized an international Anti-Corruption Conference in Baghdad on 
March 17-18, 2008 at al-Rasheed Hotel, entitled "International 
Compact with Iraq: Initiative on Good Governance and Anti-Corruption 
- Conference on UN Convention Against Corruption."  Funding for the 
conference was provided by the European Commission.  The conference 
was chaired by the United Nations Special Representative of the 
Secretary General for Iraq, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, and the keynote 
 
SIPDIS 
address was given by United Nations Under-Secretary General and 
Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Mr. Antonio 
Maria Costa. Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh offered welcome 
remarks.  More than 200 Government of Iraq (GOI) officials, Iraqi 
academics, NGO activists, and international guests attended the 
opening session; domestic and international press were well 
represented, also.  End summary. 
 
SECOND TIME A CHARM 
 
¶2. (U) On March 17-18, 2008, for the second time in three months, 
the city of Baghdad hosted a major international anti-corruption 
conference.  As a follow-up to its successful January 3, 2008 
conference on anti-corruption, GOI officials, including Deputy Prime 
Minister Dr. Barham Salih and the heads of the GOI's major 
anti-corruption bodies (the Joint Anti-Corruption Council - JACC; 
the Board of Supreme Audit - BSA; the Commission of Integrity - COI; 
the Iraqi Inspectors General - IIG; and the Council of 
Representatives' Integrity Committee - COR/IC) contributed 
statements on the GoI's progress in countering corruption.  Other 
participants included the World Bank's Baghdad representative and 
Iraqi NGO activists.  Topics included "Institutional Development and 
Capacity Building"; "Criminalization and Law Enforcement"; and "The 
Role of Non-State Actors, Media, and Civil Society." 
 
RATIFICATION OF THE UN CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION 
 
¶3. (U) In August 2007, the COR approved the GOI's becoming a 
signatory to the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC); later 
that month, the President and both Vice Presidents counter-signed 
the measure, legally allowing the GOI to become a signatory to the 
UNCAC.  In the months since that signing, however, the status of the 
GOI's efforts to become a signatory has been shrouded in mystery: 
confusion reigns as to the exact status of the effort.  Emboffs were 
advised that the  paperwork  may be either still at  Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Baghdad or has been forwarded to the GOI's 
representatives at the UN Mission in Geneva or to the Permanent 
Representative at UNHQ in NYC.  The United Nations Office on Drugs 
and Crime (UNODC), as the office in charge of the UNCAC, has 
promised to work with the GOI to unravel the confusion post haste. 
 
THE INTERNATIONAL COMPACT WITH IRAQ 
 
¶4. (U) As part of its responsibilities under the International 
Compact for Iraq (ICI), the GOI pledged to tackle corruption in both 
the public and private sectors.  ICI commitments include a pledge to 
develop by the end of 2008 a comprehensive system of internal and 
external controls within the government, including audits (a key 
anti-corruption measure in Iraq, where so much money is generated 
from oil revenue), to battle corruption.  Also by the end of 2008, 
the GOI must complete a master plan for its anti-corruption 
agencies, as well as ratifying and implementing the UNCAC and other 
relevant international agreements.  These mandates were addressed 
throughout the two-day conference, including during an 
end-of-conference statement by Dr. Ali Allak, Chairman of the Joint 
Anti-Corruption Council (JACC).  UNDP and the GOI are drafting a 
"Baghdad Declaration on Combating Corruption" stating the "going 
forward" efforts on the GOI to battle corruption; post will share 
the final version with NEA/I when it is released. 
 
FOCUS ON INSTITUTIONAL ROLES 
 
¶5. (U) More than 200 people attended the opening session of the 
conference.  Following welcoming remarks from Deputy Prime Minister 
Barhem Salih and opening remarks by UN Special Representative of the 
Secretary General for Iraq, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, the keynote 
 
SIPDIS 
address was delivered by UN Under-Secretary General and Director of 
UNODC, Mr. Antonio Maria Costa ("UNCAC: Building Public Trust in 
Government"), who explained that the UNCAC would "help the rule of 
law prevail over the rule of the bribe in Iraq."  He also noted that 
"where government control is weak, strongmen take law enforcement 
and public money into their own hands, creating a vicious circle of 
insecurity and corruption."  He called for a national 
anti-corruption strategy and invited the GOI to strengthen the role 
of the Joint Anti-Corruption Council as a mechanism to promote 
better coordination among the different bodies in charge of fighting 
corruption. Costa also introduced the UNODC-World Bank Stolen Asset 
 
BAGHDAD 00000877  002 OF 003 
 
 
Recovery Initiative (StAR), a technical capacity-building initiative 
to support implementation of the UNCAC, assess the strength of 
participants' asset-recovery regimes and foster cooperation on asset 
recovery among UNCAC-signatory states.  (Note:  Costa did not/not 
specifically invite Iraq to participate in the StAR Initiative. 
Several Iraqi participants were nonetheless quick to welcome the 
prospect of asset recovery assistance, perhaps not understanding 
that the StAR Initiative is a capacity-building project, not an 
operational effort to recover stolen revenues.  End note.) 
 
¶6. (U) Dr. Ali Allak, Chairman of the JACC, discussed the "Role of 
Key Iraqi Institutions" in battling corruption, while Sheik Sabah 
al-Saedi, Chairman of the COR/IC, spoke of the "Importance of the 
Integrity Commission."  Dr. Abdul Bassit Al Turki, President of the 
BSA, discussed "The Role of the BSA," while the newly appointed 
Commissioner of the COI, Raheem al-Ugaili, elucidated his plans for 
guiding the COI in the upcoming months.  Dr. Adel Muhsen Abdullah, 
Inspector General of the Ministry of Health, spoke on the "Role of 
the Inspectors General," and Mr. Simon Stolp, representative of the 
World Bank in Baghdad, discussed the "World Bank's Anti-Corruption 
Programs." 
 
VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
¶7. (U) The remainder of the first day, plus all of the second day, 
was dedicated to group discussions on "Institutional Development and 
Capacity Building," "Criminalization and Law Enforcement," "The Role 
of Non-state Actors (Media and NGO's)," and "Coordination and 
Cooperation against Corruption."  Discussions among the Iraqi 
participants were thoughtful and forward-looking, but the sparse 
attendance of these sessions was a major disappointment for the 
conference's organizers and participants.  While each session's 
average of only two dozen participants did not negatively affect the 
quality of the discussions, the input would have been greater had 
more officials and journalists attended. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
 
¶8. (U) The Iraqi participants acknowledged that corruption is a 
corrosive force that destroys trust in public institutions, robs a 
country of its development, distorts economic growth, reinforces 
inequality, deprives the poor of basic services, funds violence and 
terrorism, and empowers organized crime. They also recognized that 
corruption is one of the main challenges for Iraq's efforts to 
create a stable and democratic government.  They agreed that the 
fight against corruption cannot be left to the government alone, but 
that civil society must undertake an essential role in combating 
corruption by raising public awareness and promoting accountability 
and transparency. 
 
¶9. (U) In a follow-up meeting the day after the UNCAC's conclusion, 
EmbOffs met with UNDP officials to discuss the next steps.  Salient 
points from the meeting follow below: 
 
a) UNODC will continue to work with the GOI to complete the 
necessary documentation for Iraq to become a signatory to the 
UNCAC; 
 
b) A UNAMI D/SRSG, who is dual-hatted as Resident Coordinator for 
the UNIraq Country Team, will  also act as the Resident 
Representative for UNDP.  UNDP staff will continue to be based in 
Amman, but will make more frequent visits to Baghdad, inter alia, to 
implement the anti-corruption initiatives discussed at the 
conference; 
 
c) UNDP will continue its capacity-building program with BSA, 
programming $6,000,000 over the next three years for Phase II of the 
project; 
 
d) UNDP hopes to use seed money to begin technical assistance and 
capacity-building programs with CoI and the IIGs later this year. 
If these pilot projects go well, UNDP will solicit additional 
financial support from Trust Fund donors; 
 
e) UNDP will begin a media training program later this year; 
 
f) EmbOffs will hold frequent anti-corruption coordination meetings 
with UNDP reps during their visits to Baghdad. 
 
¶10. (U) Comment: UNDP-Amman staffers deserve tremendous credit for 
pulling this conference together.  UNDP's initial effort to organize 
a conference on corruption issues started more than eight months 
ago, but only gathered momentum toward the end of 2007.  Conference 
organizers reported excellent cooperation from the offices of Prime 
Minister Maliki and DPM Barham Saleh, as well as strong support from 
the individual anti-corruption agencies.  Organizing this event from 
afar presented more than logistical challenges:  UNDP-Amman staffers 
were not familiar with the initiatives presented at the GOI's 
January 2008 anti-corruption conference nor the on-going activities 
 
BAGHDAD 00000877  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
to implement the GOI's own anti-corruption benchmarks.  For the UN 
initiatives announced at this conference to succeed, UNDP and UNODC 
will need to have representatives in Baghdad -- even if it is only 
through more frequent TDY visits -- regularly engaging their Iraqi 
partners and keeping track of the shifting dynamics between key 
anti-corruption players. 
 
CROCKER