International - Written by on Monday, September 5, 2011 23:12 - 2 Comments

On the right TRACK: New UN anti-corruption tool

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Last week we were contacted by a reader to let us know that on 1 September 2011 the United Nations launched a new Web-based anti-corruption portal known as TRACK (Tools and Resources for Anti-Corruption Knowledge).

We’ve taken a look. Our reader highlighted the ‘legal library’ which provides a gateway to an electronic database of Convention-related legislation and information from over 175 States, systematized in accordance with the Convention’s requirements.

The portal is a useful aggregation tool (we have added it to our links page).

It will be interesting to see which (if any) of the 155 results which a search against Libya produces in the context of anti-corruption laws is used by the incoming government.

And therein lies the problem.

The site is an aggregation tool but could usefully use an overview, nothing too detailed, which explained the basic structure of the laws in each state to give the reader some sign posts for where to look in the haystack of information included in the database for the material readers need.

It is a puzzle (and not hugely helpful to the unfamiliar user) why the UK draft bribery act is referenced as well as the final Bribery Act in the search results that come back for the UK.

The technology necessary to develop the blueprint for the initiative was provided by Microsoft Corporation as a pro bono contribution to the anti-corruption work of the United Nations. For any geeky types out there it would be great to take this aggregated data and distil it further.

Anyone?

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Weekly Roundup | i-Sight Investigation Software Blog
Sep 9, 2011 4:59

[…] On the right TRACK: New UN anti-corruption tool: Richard & Barry, thebriberyact.com, discusses a new web-based anti-corruption portal known as TRACK (Tools and Resources for Anti-Corruption Knowledge), which was launched by the United Nations. […]

ravi
Sep 9, 2011 19:39

Not really great. Perhaps the references to laws /acts have been picked up from public domain which may or may not have the authenticated information. There are a number of bloomers. There is a reference to COFEPOSA act (conservation of foreign exchange and prevention of smuggling activities act) with reference to the compliance of Article 12 of uncac by india. UNODC should write to indidual country authority requesting for authentication of information in the legal library. Other wise it will lead to misinformation as many could be referring to this database

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