100 Countries Sign the UN Convention Against Corruption

On December 9-11, 2003, more than 100 countries signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption at a ceremony in Merida, Mexico. During the ceremony U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan explained that the Convention?s provisions allowing for asset recovery are ?the first of their kind? and will require ratifying countries to return assets obtained through corruption to the country from which they were stolen. According to Annan, ?(t)his is a major breakthrough. It will help tackle a pressing problem for many developing countries, where corrupt elites have looted billions of dollars that are now desperately needed by new governments to redress the social and economic damage inflicted on their societies.?