Implementing the Common African Position: Launch of six national assessments of CAPAR implementation

12 November 2024

Today we are pleased to launch six assessments of national implementation of the Common African Position on Asset Recovery.

The Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR) is a milestone in the African Union’s approach to the recovery of assets stolen from the continent. It sets out international, regional and national recommendations to enhance asset recovery. Adopted by the African Union in February 2020, CAPAR is a policy framework supporting the recovery and repatriation of African assets illicitly moved to foreign jurisdictions. The framework provides national and continental-level guidelines for identifying, reclaiming, and managing recovered assets in a manner that upholds African sovereignty. CAPAR is recognized as essential to strengthen domestic and cross-border recovery efforts within Africa.

CAPAR sets out its recommendations across four pillars:

Detection and Identification of Assets
Recovery and Return of Assets
Management of Recovered Assets
Cooperation and Partnerships

The CAPAR Civil Society Network, supported by CiFAR and Transparency International Secretariat (TI-S), has developed an assessment tool to monitor national implementation of CAPAR across Africa and under each of these four pillars. This tool evaluates national CAPAR components through a matrix and indicator system, using a traffic light rating system to provide clear, actionable insights for each CAPAR commitment.

Six assessments were carried out in 2023-2024 to pilot the tool and provide a first round of analysis of CAPAR implementation. These covered countries across different regions, legal systems and languages: Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Madagascar, and Nigeria.

According to Lewis Kundai,

Effective implementation of CAPAR across AU Member States promises to reinforce asset recovery efforts, enabling both domestic and international retrieval of corrupt proceeds. By fostering robust systems at national and continental levels, CAPAR advances governance reforms, enhancing transparency, accountability, and public participation. The CAPAR Assessment Tool is designed to clarify priority reforms for all stakeholders, offering a comparative framework that encourages governments to strengthen their implementation over time.

Explore the reports

Highlights from the six CAPAR assessments

Asset recovery is a key priority for African countries and the CAPAR is a powerful tool to advance progress in the return of the proceeds of corruption
These assessments present a snapshot of CAPAR implementation across six countries from all regions of Africa and indicate that work that needs to be done as a whole across the continent
While there are examples of strong progress being made to implement the CAPAR, all countries assessed also have substantial areas where no progress has been made or where progress is only limited
There are big discrepancies between countries:
- Cote d’Ivoire has fully implemented 72% of indicators
- Equatorial Guinea has only fully implemented 13% of indicators
There are also big discrepancies in pillars:
- In general, countries have implemented more substantially Pillar 1 Detection and Identification of Assets, although this is not uniform
- Pillars 2 Recovery and Return of Assets and 3 Management of Recovered Assets see large gaps in implementation, with some countries having implemented few or none of the CAPAR recommendations

About the CAPAR Network

The CAPAR CSO Network aims to build on the opportunities presented by the Common African Position on Asset Recovery (CAPAR), adopted in the framework of the African Union in February 2020. The network is an open platform where civil society organisations from Africa and other continents engaged in asset recovery initiatives converge to dialogue, strategize and take action aimed at influencing and monitoring the implementation of CAPAR. As of November 2024, it has 22 members from across Africa. To read more, please visit the CAPAR Network page here.