“Ninth Assembly of Parties of IACA to be held in Seoul”

By hosting the ninth Assembly of Parties of IACA, Korea could further strengthen cooperation with IACA, shaping international discussion on anti-corruption issues and sharing Korea’s anti-corruption experiences

October 4, 2019

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) announced that on October 4, the Assembly of Parties of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan decided Korea as the country to host the next session of the Assembly.

The Assembly of Parties is IACA supreme decision-making body on its operation. It is attended by about 300 delegations of member countries including anti-corruption agencies from the world.

IACA is an international organization based in Laxenburg, Austria. The Academy was established in October 2010 by the United Nations General Assembly resolution, and the number of the Parties to the academy is 77 (including three international organizations). Main purposes of IACA are ensuring effective implementation of the United Nation Convention Against Corruption and supporting countries’ corruption prevention and fighting efforts through education and training for anti-corruption stakeholders and systemic research. In particular, IACA’s program is renowned for its holistic and inter-disciplinary approach. Along with its Master in Anti-Corruption Studies, in 2017, it launched International Master in Anti-Corruption Compliance and Collective Action (IMACC) for the business sector. The two-year program enables participants to complete the course while continuing to work.

The ACRC signed an MOU with IACA in March 2012 and the Chairperson at that time was a member of Board of Governors. The ACRC contributes to IACA’s education program by seconding senior academic advisors to the Academy.

At the Assembly of Parties last year, Chairperson Pak Un Jong was appointed as a Board member. Her term will start in November this year, enabling her to represent anti-corruption agencies in Asia.

Meanwhile, during her remarks at this year’s Assembly of Parties, Chairperson Pak said that Korea will hold next year’s Assembly of Parties in parallel with the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), one of the biggest global anti-corruption event so that people in the public sector and private sector from countries around could gather together and actively share their experiences and solutions. She also requested the participants of the Assembly of Parties to show interest and participate in the IACC Conference which will be held in Seoul in 2020.

In addition, at a workshop held on the sideline, as a panelist, Chairperson Pak introduced excellence of whistleblower protection system of Korea, which then followed quite a lot of interest from many anti-corruption agencies.