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?
Explanation
Statement 1 is incorrect: The ‘Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air’ is one of the three supplementary protocols to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), not UNCAC.
Statement 2 is correct: The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the first and only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument.
Statement 3 is incorrect: The groundbreaking inclusion of a dedicated chapter on Asset Recovery (Chapter V)—aimed at returning illicitly acquired assets to their countries of origin—is the hallmark of the UNCAC, not UNTOC.
Statement 4 is correct: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) acts as the official secretariat and is mandated to assist member states in implementing both UNCAC and UNTOC.
Therefore, statements 2 and 4 are correct — Option C.