The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the first global and universal agreement to prevent and combat corruption. It has now been signed by 140 states. 104 states have ratified it that means national preconditions have been put in place for translating the Convention into national law (December 2007). This shows how much significance is attached to the Convention internationally. It forms the consensus among the participating states as to what corruption is and how it can be combated.
Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has pledged to support partner countries in implementing the Convention. To help implement this it has instituted a special project: the German UNCAC project.