A two-member delegation from Bhutan, led by the Commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Bhutan (ACC), participated in the first resumed seventeenth session of the Implementation Review Group (IRG) of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), held from 31 August to 4 September 2026 at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria.
The resumed session focused primarily on the performance of the UNCAC Implementation Review Mechanism and preparations for its second phase reviews, which is scheduled to commence in May 2027. The IRG considered progress in completing country reviews, challenges and delays encountered in the review process, and measures to enhance the efficiency and timeliness of future reviews.
The IRG also considered the draft self-assessment checklist, revised model schedule, and blueprint for country review reports and executive summaries for the second phase in preparation for its adoption in the special session in November 2026. The second phase will place greater emphasis on progress made since previous country reviews, implementation of recommendations, good practices, challenges, results achieved, and technical assistance requirements. The Secretariat also shared its initial skeletal concept of the digital solutions soon to be developed to support information gathering and drawing of lots for country reviews in the second phase.
The session further considered financial and budgetary matters relating to the functioning of the Implementation Review Mechanism. Under the agenda item on the status of implementation of UNCAC, States Parties exchanged information, practices, and experiences, with particular emphasis on Chapter III of the Convention concerning criminalisation and law enforcement. The session included panel discussions onissues and challenges relating to corruption facilitating the smuggling of migrants and its links to money laundering.
Implementation Review Mechanism is an inter-governmental peer review aimed to facilitate compliance and assist State Parties in the effective implementation of UNCAC. Bhutan became a signatory to UNCAC in 2005 and deposited its instrument of accession in September 2023. In the 1st Phase, Bhutan had been reviewed under Review Cycle I on Chapter III and IV by Cook Islands and Tajikistan and Chapter II and V under Review Cycle II by Bahrain and Iceland.