New rules for the primitive accumulation of capital

[Jurriaan Bendien <bendien@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

02.11.2003 NEW YORK - The UN General Assembly has approved the world's first
anti-corruption treaty that requires nations to return stolen assets to
countries from which they were pillaged. The treaty, two years in the
drafting, will enter into force 90 days after 30 governments have ratified
it. It opens for signatures in Merida, Mexico, from December 9 to 11.
"Corruption hurts the poor disproportionately," UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan told the 191-member assembly today. "Corruption is a key element in
economic under-performance and a major obstacle to poverty alleviation and
development."

The treaty, he said, "makes a major breakthrough by requiring member states
to return assets obtained through corruption to the country from which they
were stolen." Developing nations were anxious to have the asset recovery
provision adopted, particularly those where high-level corruption plundered
the national wealth.

Source:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3531996&thesection=news&t
hesubsection=world&thesecondsubsection=