UN Anti-Corruption Summit Begins With Moment of Silence for A321 Victims

A conference, involving the states parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, kicked off in St. Petersburg on Monday with a with a solemn moment of silence for those killed in the Russian A321 crash in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula.

ST.PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — On Saturday, the Russian airliner, carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members crashed in the Sinai Peninsula en route from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg.

The conference will last until Friday, November 6.

Delegates from 159 countries, including more than 50 heads of national anti-corruption agencies and more than 90 non-governmental organizations operating in the anti-corruption, educational, legal, social and environmental spheres, have already confirmed their participation, according to the event’s organizing committee.

The issue of cooperation between the public and private sectors to prevent and combat corruption will be in the limelight of the Conference.

Moreover, the delegates are expected to discuss the issue of corrupt practices in sporting and environmental spheres.

The UN Convention against Corruption is the first legally binding, globally recognized tool in the fight against bribe-taking. It was adopted by the UN General Assembly on October 31, 2003 and entered into force on December 14, 2005.

Russia was one of the first states to sign it, and the ratification process took place in March 2006.

The Convention provides for specific forms of international cooperation, such as mutual legal assistance in criminal cases, including the collection and transfer of evidence, the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption, and extradition.

In contrast to previously signed international treaties, the Convention regulates mutual legal assistance even in the absence of dual criminality.