The Cohort on International Cooperation for Anticorruption was established to share knowledge, experience and best practices, discuss and draft recommendations, and increase awareness among S4D participants on corruption prevention and international communication and cooperation in anticorruption enforcement, with a view to joint efforts past the second Summit for Democracy. The Cohort’s first meeting was on 8 November 2022, which provided the opportunity for stakeholders to question and contribute to the scope and results of its activities. Following the second Summit for Democracy in 2023, the Cohort released a series of recommendations on the basis of its work during the Year of Action. The recommendations were under the headings Strengthening international standards and structures; Adapting national legal frameworks and practices; and Strengthening operational cooperation, and they were signed by 24 countries and the European Commission, as well as 15 civil society organisations and 2 intergovernmental organisations.

Corrupt activities increasingly occur across borders, threatening the integrity of our democracies and necessitating concerted international action to counter illicit flows of money and other goods. Effective and trustworthy cooperation between law enforcement agencies is crucial for investigating, prosecuting and sanctioning actors engaged in corrupt activities. Establishing stronger networks for law enforcement and central authorities among democracies would lead to better and faster communication and understanding of proceedings in other countries. This cooperation would directly feed into revitalised democracies: the likelihood for assets involved in corrupt activities to be recovered would be higher, and the influence of money and malign foreign interests in politics would be reduced.

The expected outcomes from this cohort are to improve international communication and cooperation among states, national and international organizations, and existing anticorruption platforms; to improve bilateral and international exchange of information and collaboration between anti-corruption institutions, law enforcement agencies, prosecutor’s offices, and other specialized anti-corruption bodies; and to establish clear recommendations for enhancing justice sector integrity, independence and capacity. At the Second Summit for Democracy, Transparency International (TI) released two statements, one with seven key priorities targeted at the Indo-Pacific Region, and the second with a call underlining the importance of four key principles on the back of TI's work with the Cohort.

Priority areas of work included international cooperation on cases of high-level corruption (including the creation of Joint Investigation Teams, provision of Mutual Legal Assistance, exchange of investigative operational information, and information on assets held abroad for purpose of conducting integrity checks); international cooperation on illicit assets recovery (including provision of mutual legal assistance in criminal cases, setting up measures for direct recovery of property via civil procedures); and enhancing justice sector integrity, independence and capacity for the purposes of international cooperation (for example, via pre-vetting and vetting mechanisms for judges and prosecutors).

Relevant documents released by the cohort can be found in the links on the righthand side of the page, and any public events are listed below. We invite you to use the contact form on this portal if you have any contributions or corrections regarding this cohort. Find out more about participation by the Basel Institute in anti-corruption Cohort efforts here and see a video statement on action against corruption by the Cohort here.

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Co leads

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  Moldova

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  Basel Institute

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  Transparency International

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Documents

• Cohort Proposal
• November Meeting Agenda and Cohort Description
• November Meeting Minutes
• Cohort Recommendations