A/HRC/44/27 contracts, making it difficult to investigate related human rights violations; and negative or evasive responses to requests for information. It recommended, in particular, the adoption of specific clauses obliging businesses to respect human rights in all public contracts and imposing penalties in cases of breach of contract. Moreover, companies should be required to carry out human rights due diligence in order to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for how they address the adverse impact of their activities on human rights. 47. Under article 12 (2) (c) of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, States parties have undertaken to take measures to promote transparency among private entities, including, where appropriate, measures regarding the identity of legal and natural persons involved in the establishment and management of corporate entities. Sweden shared information on its Companies Registration Office, which handles several company and association registers containing information on the board members of a company or association, among other information. The trade register, for instance, contains information about company members who are either legal or natural persons. The register of beneficial owners, on the other hand, contains information about the beneficial owners of Swedish legal entities, foreign legal entities operating in Sweden and natural persons who are resident in Sweden and who manage trusts or similar legal constructions. Both registers are public. 48. Under article 12 (3) of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, States parties have committed themselves to taking measures regarding the maintenance of books and records, financial statement disclosures and accounting and auditing standards. Sweden highlighted the importance of the private sector adhering to auditing standards and drew attention to the International Standards on Auditing and the European Union accounting directives. Sweden also provided information on the sustainability reports prepared by entities of a certain size; the reports included information on the consequences of operations, including with regard to human rights and anti-corruption issues. 49. Under article 13 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, States parties have undertaken to promote the active participation of society in the prevention of and the fight against corruption. Mauritius highlighted the importance of the participation of society, vulnerable groups and victims of corruption. The Amman Center for Human Rights Studies highlighted the importance of protecting human rights defenders who advocated for anticorruption measures. It expressed the view that many States cracked down on human rights activists and intentionally weakened civil society so that corruption could persist within the government. It was therefore vital that States provide space in which civil society could operate and where freedom of information and speech were allowed. Citizens and civil society organizations provided oversight where accountability was lacking within governing bodies. The Amman Center was particularly concerned about the criminalization of defamation of the State, threats against journalists, the blocking of foreign and domestic websites and the pressure put on civil society organizations, including through controls of their internal affairs. The Slovak National Centre for Human Rights reported on the Fund for Transparent Slovakia, a private sector initiative with more than 20 members that had raised funds for watchdog organizations to tackle corruption. Serbia provided information on an agreement on cooperation and measures for raising the level of safety of journalists. F. Measures to prevent money-laundering (art. 14) 50. Under article 14 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, States parties have undertaken to take measures to prevent money-laundering. El Salvador highlighted the efforts it had made to adopt a new special law for the prevention, control and penalization of asset laundering with a view to adapting the existing legal framework to the latest international standards and current criminal activities. The European Union drew attention to the reforms of its rules against money-laundering, the setting up of beneficial ownership registries of bank account information, the enhancement of supervisory cooperation and the broadening of the criteria for listing high-risk third countries. 51. The Philippines had conducted a national risk assessment to evaluate its overall exposure to money-laundering and related predicate offences, including graft and corruption, and to analyse the money-laundering and financing of terrorism risks in different public sectors and entities. Guatemala also highlighted the importance of carrying out corruption risk assessments. 10