Corruption damages citizens’ trust in government, undermines the rule of law, and hinders economic growth and development. For the G20, preventing and combating corruption contributes to the shared objective of building an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive global economy, and fostering international cooperation constitutes a critical step to this end.
In accordance with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), and building upon the G20 Common Principles for Action: Denial of Safe Haven, the G20 High-Level Principles on Mutual Legal Assistance and the G20 key asset recovery principles as well as proposals endorsed at previous G20 leaders’ summits on strengthening international law enforcement cooperation against corruption, the G20 commits to leading by example and endorses the following set of principles.
While implementing these principles, G20 members recognize that fighting corruption requires a strong foundation, which includes respect for international law, a commitment to respecting human rights and the rule of law as well as a commitment to respect the sovereignty of each country and their international commitments and domestic legal systems. Nothing in these principles should be interpreted as enabling a G20 member to undertake activities in the territory of another state.
During the Chinese presidency of G20 in 2016, the “High Level Principles on Cooperation on Persons Sought for Corruption and Asset Recovery” was initiated to address the issue of persons accused of corruption fleeing the country and transferring the proceeds of crime overseas to evade the law.
