By Toby McIntosh
Only 62 percent of the detailed reports about national anti-corruption efforts, prepared as part of a international process, are made public, but they all should be disclosed, according to a Sept. 28 letter from almost 400 non-governmental organizations.
More transparency is especially important in new rules for implementing the next phase of the peer review system that was designed to encourage better national laws and practices to fight corruption. It was instituted in 2010 pursuant to the 2005 United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
As of September 2026, 97 nations have completed the comprehensive “Country Review Reports,” but only 60 of them have been disclosed, according to the Global Civil Society Coalition for the UNCAC, the group that sponsored the letter and maintains the UNCAC Review Status Tracker.
Disclosure of the reports is optional under current rules. A country may veto release of the Country Review Report about it. However, shorter executive summaries must be disclosed.
At a Nov. 6 UNCAC meeting, the policies for the second phase of reviews will be determined, including the rules on transparency. The decision will be made by the “States Parties,” the 193 governments who are part of the multilateral UNCAC treaty.
With the next round of country reviews to start in 2027, the Coalition wrote, the rules will have long-term implications. The rules, “… including how far civil society can take part in country reviews and how transparent the process will be – will shape the UNCAC’s effectiveness for years to come,” according to the Coalition letter. “Once adopted, these will be very hard to change,” the letter states.
Creation of country reports is established by the “Implementation Review Mechanism” that got underway in 2010. The process begins with participating governments responding to a self-assessment checklist. Then two “peer reviewers” (other countries) get involved. The whole process has taken an average of 5.3 years. Only 20 self-assessment checklists have been published, and the Coalition is also calling for their mandatory release.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) posts the available reports and executive summaries here.
The reports are comprehensive and include recommendations for reform.
For example, the Country Review Report on Bulgaria from Jan. 3, 2025, has 412 pages. It includes detailed descriptions of anti-corruption laws and mechanisms along with 14 recommendations. One proposal states: “Based on the information provided it is recommended that Bulgaria consider adopting conflict of interest rules and declaration requirements for candidates for election, as well as upper limits for election and campaign contributions, and continue to develop legislation to regulate political lobbying.”
The Executive Summary issued 11 months earlier, on Feb. 7, 2024, runs only 17 pages, but does include the 14 recommendations.
This is fairly typical. Full country reports are usually between 200 and 500 pages, a Coalition official said. They describe the context, go into depth about the legal framework and also cover aspects related to its practical implementation.
The practical implementation aspect “will be significantly strengthened in the second review phase,” the Coalition official said. The second round of reports will also cover relevant developments since the completion of the reviews under the first phase of reviews.
The Coalition official said, “The added value of publishing the full reports lies in their level of detail, which a 15-20 page executive summary cannot capture.”
