A landmark piece of legislation intended to precipitate a global crackdown on corruption is in danger of losing all credibility because of a row over how it is monitored, warns Christian Aid.
Officials from more than 100 countries will gather in Doha, Qatar, next week to assess the effectiveness of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which entered into force in 2005 and has been ratified by 141 countries.
Anti-corruption campaigners say a review mechanism is urgently needed to monitor how countries are implementing the Convention.
That mechanism, they say, must include the mandatory publication of country reports, country visits by experts from other states to check on progress, and the participation of civil society in the review process.
A similar system is already being used successfully to monitor the Anti-Bribery Convention drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.
However, a vocal group of countries including China, Russia, Egypt and Pakistan are resistant, saying corruption is too complex and politically sensitive an issue to discuss openly. They are also concerned that civil society participation would be "adversarial".
Now a draft compromise to be put forward in Doha by the US, EU and a number of Latin American countries has been leaked.
Key proposals include allowing the country under review to insist "in exceptional circumstances" that monitoring reports into its activities should remain unpublished.
It would also be up to the country under review to provide those doing the monitoring with the views of civil society organisations from within its borders.
Christian Aid senior governance advisor Adele Poskitt, said it appeared that a secret deal involving the EU and US was already in place".
