Today, the draft Resolution “Strengthening of international cooperation on asset recovery and the administration of frozen, seized and confiscated assets” developed by ARMA was approved at the regular Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, held in the United Arab Emirates, after six rounds of multilateral consultations. Decision on approval of the draft Resolution was reached by a consensus.

The Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption is a conventional mechanism involving all UN Member States.

Following the approval of the text of the Ukrainian Resolution, such countries as the USA, Canada and Peru had also adjoined it.

The aforementioned draft Resolution was developed by ARMA based on the results of the analysis of the gaps in international acts, as well as took into account the resolutions adopted in the previous sessions of the Conference, current challenges and trends in the recovery of assets, research, analytical scientific work of international institutions and experts, comments and suggestions raised by foreign partners on international platforms.

The Resolution contains a number of strategic recommendations for improving the tracing for illicit assets and for the management of seized assets.

Among other things, the Resolution seeks to strengthen the independence and capabilities of institutions authorized to search for illicit assets and management of them. In addition, the Resolution strengthens the mechanism of inter-agency and international co-operation, and reaffirms the necessity to improve approaches to managing seized and / or confiscated assets within each jurisdiction.

It should be noted that Ukraine ratified the UN Convention against Corruption back in 2003, but has never yet proposed to adopt a resolution at the Conference of States Parties to the Convention.

Accordingly, the approval of the said resolution for Ukraine has become a kind of double record- the first ever initiative of Ukraine on the adoption of the resolution has become a success, and the approved resolution is in general the first resolution in the history of Ukraine on finding and tracing of assets.

It should be noted that the resolutions of the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption are a specific guide, a strategic vector for the development of anti-corruption legislation and the prevention of corruption for all States Parties to the Convention, which are more than 180.

In practice, this means that the Resolution is an official recommendation within the framework of the UN Convention against Corruption for all States Parties to improve their legislation and institutions.

In the near future, ARMA will develop and submit a draft law that will take into account the provisions of the approved Resolution.