December 2025 became synonymous with extraordinary accomplishments for our IECLO U.S. Scientific Coordinator at Indiana University, Professor Anja Matwijkiw. She was invited to speak on a panel for a United Nations Side Event at the 11th Session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) – Shaping Tomorrow’s Integrity (see https://www.unodc.org/corruption/en/cosp/conference/session11.html).

The panel in question, which the United Nations lists in the official Program as “Education against Corruption for Students: Global, Regional and National” took place on December 17 (see https://track.unodc.org/uploads/documents/UNCAC/COSP/session11/CoSP11_Booklet-programme_final_11.12.pdf). Professor Matwijkiw presented her thoughts on UNCAC, Values and Learning Lessons from Stakeholder Conceptualizations to show the need to integrate ethics into anti-corruption education. Apart from Professor Matwijkiw, the panel consisted of Ambassador Ugljesa (Ugi) Zvekic, Head of EPLO Permanent Observer Mission at UN in Vienna (Moderator) and Professors Adam Graycar (Australia), Suncana Roksandic (Croatia), Dimitris Zouvas (Greece), Alban Koci (Albania) and Yasser Refaie (Qatar); all of whom shared examples and experiences with the implementation of UNCAC Article 13 c in the context of university education for future policy makers, managers and decision-makers in the public and private sectors. Photos of the panel can be seen below.

The special event was co-organized by The Permanent Observer Mission of the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) at UN in Vienna and The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center (ROLACC), an organization founded in Doha in 2009 by Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri, attorney general of Qatar.

The venue for the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP11) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the Sheraton Grand Doha Resort & Convention Hotel “quickly became a global forum for new ideas,” Professor Matwijkiw noted in her enthusiastic remarks.

In addition, Professor Matwijkiw served as a Delegate for the EPLO and this gave her a unique opportunity to attend the plenary sessions. “I also followed Ambassador Zvekic, whose activities covered the entirety of the Conference, from December 15 to December 19, from cybercrime to the rights of victims. He is a warm advocate of multidisciplinary responses to corruption and the fight against this. In his opinion, cultural, political, social, economic and environmental contexts must be taken into consideration. In the case of education, Ambassador Zvekic also highlights a comparative approach for law, as well as the need for anti-corruption clinics to focus on the ethics of integrity. I am in complete agreement with his perspective. And I could not but feel sentimental upon discovering some of the fine stateman’s qualities Ambassador Zvekic shares with the late M. Cherif Bassiouni.”  A photo of Ambassador Zvekic and Professor Anja Matwijkiw can be seen below.

M. Cherif Bassiouni was a mentor for Professor Anja Matwijkiw when she first arrived in the U.S. Her decision to become a multidisciplinary scholar of law developed during the years she collaborated with Bassiouni.

“When I won the 2024-2025 Presidential Fellowship at Indiana University,” I made United Nations law the emphasis for an analysis of stakeholder conceptualizations. CoSP11 became the event that connected all the dots for me,” Professor Matwijkiw concluded.

Together with Prof. Suncana Roksandic, she is now in the process of completing the book that is the follow-up for a special issue on crime and corruption that International Criminal Law Review published last year (see https://brill.com/view/journals/icla/25/2-3/icla.25.issue-2-3.xml).

Ambassador Zvekic and Professor Anja Matwijkiw

For some helpful CoSP links, please go to: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), https://track.unodc.org/uploads/documents/UNCAC/COSP/session11/CAC-COSP-2025-INF-1/2511272E.pdf; https://www.unodc.org/corruption/en/cosp/conference-of-the-states-parties.html; https://www.unodc.org/corruption/en/cosp/conference/session11.html