Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Assets Return to Foster Sustainable Development

A/RES/76/196View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 18fPromotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable development, published in 2021.

What other versions does this mandate have?

8 versions · 2018–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/126

2025A/RES/80/126Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/234Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable developmentCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/140Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/154Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable developmentCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/196Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable developmentCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Crime Prevention Criminal Assets Illicit Funds Transfer International Cooperation Sustainable Development

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2022.

2022A/77/304International coordination and cooperation to combat illicit financial flows report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

32 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the focus on combating illicit financial flows, inter alia, at the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, held on 26 September 2019, acknowledges that combating illicit financial flows contributes to domestic resource mobilization, and calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to continue their consideration of the negative impact of illicit financial flows on financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, to further explore policy responses to the phenomenon and to coordinate their efforts in this regard;

Also welcomes the high-level meeting on international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return, convened by the President of the General Assembly at Headquarters on 16 May 2019, and takes note of the Chair’s summary;

Takes note of the report of the High-level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda and the recommendations by independent experts contained therein for further consideration, as appropriate, expresses its commitment to financial integrity for sustainable development, to giving, when appropriate, consideration to allocating any recovered resources to finance the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and to strengthening the implementation of existing multilateral legal instruments for the purpose of asset recovery and return, through national efforts and international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and promote good practices on assets return to foster sustainable development, including through existing relevant international frameworks, such as the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, while noting the ongoing work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the Group of 20, requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session a report, within existing resources, on existing commitments and to strengthen international coordination in relation to illicit financial flows and the implementation of assets return and recovery based on existing mechanisms, and takes note of the recent statement on a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy, agreed by 137 jurisdictions members of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, which provides that in-scope multinational enterprises will be subject to a minimum tax rate of 15 per cent;

Reaffirms its commitment to strive to eliminate safe havens that create incentives for the transfer abroad of stolen assets and illicit financial flows;

Also reaffirms its commitment to strengthen regulatory frameworks at all levels in accordance with international standards and to further increase the transparency and accountability of financial institutions and the corporate sector, as well as public administrations;

Notes with concern that proceeds emanating from offences established under the United Nations Convention against Corruption have yet to be disposed of in favour of the requesting States parties, their prior legitimate owners and victims of the crimes, and decides to deter, detect, prevent and counter corruption, increase transparency and promote good governance;

Reaffirms the need for Member States to effectively implement and enforce existing obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption, as a critical part of combating illicit financial flows;

Welcomes the ongoing efforts of Member States to enhance knowledge and broaden understanding of the challenges and opportunities involved in international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return consistent with the United Nations Convention against Corruption so as to foster sustainable development;

Acknowledges that combating illicit financial flows requires a range of actions that includes deterring, detecting, preventing and countering such flows in source, transit and destination countries;

Recalls that new technologies can both increase efficiency in revenue collection and strengthen the efforts to combat illicit financial flows, expresses concern that virtual assets are being used for illicit activities, and in this regard encourages Member States and other relevant organizations to take measures in line with international standards, where applicable, to prevent and counter their illicit use;

Notes that international cooperation in combating illicit financial flows is a work in progress that must continue to be pursued, and encourages all countries to develop effective tools and create a policy environment for combating illicit financial flows, in accordance with the existing relevant international frameworks, including the United Nations Convention against Corruption;

Urges Member States that have not yet done so to consider ratifying or acceding to the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto, and urges States parties to those Conventions and Protocols to make efforts towards their effective implementation;

Encourages countries and relevant multilateral and international organizations to continue their efforts to provide, upon request, technical assistance and capacity-building assistance to developing countries, as well as to support African and other regional initiatives, in order to improve their capacity to prevent, detect and combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable development;

Recalls with appreciation the first meeting of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery, held in December 2017, supported by the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, a joint initiative of the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and welcomes the adoption of the Global Forum on Asset Recovery communiqué;

Recalls the second International Expert Meeting on the Return of Stolen Assets, held in Addis Ababa from 7 to 9 May 2019, and encourages the continuation of its work in advancing efforts to strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets in support of sustainable development;

Encourages further efforts by relevant national and international actors to mitigate transfer pricing not in line with the arm’s length principle and trade misinvoicing;

Calls upon all countries to work together to eliminate base erosion and profit shifting and to ensure that all companies, including multinationals, pay taxes to the Governments of countries where economic activity occurs and value is created, in accordance with national and international laws and policies;

Also calls upon all countries to cooperate, in accordance with applicable bilateral or multilateral agreements, in the areas of mutual legal assistance and administrative assistance in tax matters, as well as the automatic exchange of financial account information;

Recognizes the importance of the consideration of international tax issues at the United Nations, and in that regard takes note with appreciation of the work of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, and agrees to work towards strengthening its effectiveness and operational capacity to present concrete recommendations to the Economic and Social Council;

Also recognizes that measures aimed at combating illicit financial flows often require cooperation between law enforcement agencies, and encourages Member States, where applicable and subject to their domestic legal systems, and in line with their treaty obligations, to cooperate in this regard;

Stresses that anti-corruption measures should be an integral part of national development policies and strategies and that all jurisdictions should consider undertaking further research, policy development and programming, as appropriate, to address corruption;

Encourages closer public-private sector collaboration to better tackle corruption, and stresses that further research, policy development and programming should help in reaching this goal;

Notes that various jurisdictions have introduced mechanisms to increase beneficial ownership transparency, including beneficial ownership registries of legal entities and legal arrangements, such as companies, trusts and limited liability partnerships, and invites all jurisdictions to consider establishing appropriate mechanisms, in line with international standards, where applicable;

Encourages States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption to make full use of the asset recovery tools set forth in chapter V of the Convention, including mechanisms for the enforcement of foreign restraining and confiscation orders, as a means of significantly reducing the expenses that a State party may normally incur in pursuing asset recovery;

Calls upon all States parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, in particular requesting and requested States parties, to cooperate to recover the proceeds of crime, as defined in the Convention, and to fulfil their obligation to ensure the return or disposal of such proceeds, in accordance with article 57 of the Convention;

Recognizes the importance of enhanced capacity for data collection and analysis to combat illicit financial flows, emphasizing the need to increase the exchange of data within national government institutions as well as from international institutions;

Emphasizes the importance of the ongoing efforts of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in coordination with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other institutions, to develop a methodology to produce estimates of the total value of inward and outward illicit financial flows;

Invites the President of the General Assembly, the President of the Economic and Social Council and the Secretary-General to give appropriate consideration to the importance of combating illicit financial flows and strengthening good practices on assets return to foster sustainable development, and in this regard invites all relevant international institutions to support these efforts, in accordance with their respective mandates;

Reaffirms the commitment at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind and commit to taking more tangible steps to support people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries and to reach the furthest behind first;

Looks forward to the inclusion, in the 2022 report of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development, of an analysis of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable development, pursuant to the mandate of the Task Force, and also looks forward to the deliberations of the Economic and Social Council forum on financing for development follow-up on efforts to combat illicit financial flows;

Requests the secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in consultation with relevant entities of the United Nations system, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to inform the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session about the implementation of the present resolution, through a dedicated section of the Sustainable Development Goals Pulse report and of the Trade and Development Report, elaborating in particular on the need to combat illicit financial flows and recover and return stolen assets in line with commitments contained in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-seventh session, under the item entitled “Macroeconomic policy questions”, the sub-item entitled “Promotion of international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on assets return to foster sustainable development”.

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Who created this mandate?

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What does this mandate say?

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