A/HRC/22/42 building confidence and encouraging cooperation between requesting and requested States.38 27. In mid-2007, UNODC and the World Bank jointly launched the StAR Initiative to support international efforts to end safe havens for funds earned through corruption. The initiative offers capacity-building, policy analysis and knowledge-building and provides, upon request, technical assistance to countries that are operationally engaged in asset recovery cases. It has published several research reports and tools for practitioners including the Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners.39 In 2012, the StAR Initiative provided country-specific technical assistance in 16 countries or groups of countries that can be divided in two categories: (a) assistance to countries engaged in active asset recovery cases; and (b) assistance to countries to build capacity to generate and conduct asset recovery cases (A/67/96, para. 33). The StAR Initiative also advocates for the effective implementation of Chapter V of the United Nations Convention against Corruption and other standards to detect, deter and recover the proceeds of corruption. 28. The OECD framework for fighting bribery consists of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the Recommendation on the Tax Deductibility of Bribes to Foreign Public Officials and the Recommendation for Further Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions. However, the Convention only deals with the supply side of bribery (that is, when someone is offering a bribe and not when someone is asking for a bribe). It also does not address issues such as the use of offshore financial centres and practices that block effective investigation and prosecution of corruption offences. OECD has tracked anti-corruption and asset recovery commitments of its 30 member States and has been engaged jointly with the Asian Development Bank in an Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific on the subject of asset recovery and mutual legal assistance. 40 29. Combating the flow of illicit funds has been also on the agenda of the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa. In March 2011, the Fourth Joint Annual Meetings of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development adopted resolution 886 (XLIV) on illicit financial flows mandating the establishment of a high-level panel on illicit financial flows from Africa.41 The aim of the panel is to undertake extensive and in-depth studies to shed light on the extent and effect of illicit financial flows on national economies as well as on the human impacts of the phenomenon. 30. The African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption provides for prevention, criminalization, regional cooperation and mutual legal assistance, as well as the recovery of stolen assets. It covers a number of offences, including bribery (domestic 38 39 40 41 12 See note by the Secretariat on strengthening international asset recovery efforts: progress report on the implementation of asset recovery mandates, CAC/COSP/WG.2/2012/3, para. 2. Jean-Pierre Brun and others, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2011. Available from http://star.worldbank.org/star/. See OECD, Behind the Corporate Veil: Using corporate entities for illicit purposes (Paris, 2001); OECD/World Bank, Tracking Anti-Corruption and Asset Recovery Commitments; Asian Development Bank/OECD, “Asset Recovery and Mutual Legal Assistance in Asia and The Pacific: Proceedings of the 6th Regional Seminar on Making International Anti-Corruption Standards Operational” (2008). The panel, which is led by Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, brings together eminent personalities from within and outside Africa who share a common concern and expertise in the financial aspects of the continent‟s development.