Consider the following statements : 1. The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) has a 'Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air'. 2. The UNCAC is the ever-first legally binding global anti-corruption instrument. 3. A highlight of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is the inclusion of a specific chapter aimed at returning assets to their rightful owners from whom they had been taken illicitly. 4. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is mandated by its member States to assist in the implementation of both UNCAC and UNTOC. Which of the statements given above are correct?
- (a) 1 and 3 only
- (b) 2, 3 and 4 only
- (c) 2 and 4 only ✓ UPSC's answer
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Why the answer is (c)
• Statement 2 is correct: UNCAC (2003, in force 2005) is the first legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument; India ratified it in 2011.
• Statement 4 is correct: UNODC is the guardian of both UNCAC and UNTOC and assists States in implementing them.
• Statement 1 is wrong: the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants is one of the three protocols to UNTOC (Palermo Convention, 2000), not UNCAC.
• Statement 3 is wrong: the asset-recovery chapter (Chapter V) is a highlight of UNCAC, not UNTOC.
• Hence 2 and 4 only, option (c).
Why the other options are wrong
- (a) 1 and 3 only
- Statements 1 and 3 attribute UNTOC and UNCAC features wrongly.
- (b) 2, 3 and 4 only
- Statement 3 is wrong: asset recovery is in UNCAC.
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
- Statements 1 and 3 are wrong.
Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2019, held on 2 June 2019. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.