People in positions of power — often called Politically-Exposed Persons (PEPs) — may abuse their entrusted role for their own personal gain, feeding grand corruption. Banks provide one of the stopping places for these ill-gotten monies. Until now, financial institutions and their regulatory authorities have failed to prevent them from being a safe place for the corrupt. Now is the time to close this loophole.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, International Trade and Finance, and Reform
Most international standards and law enforcement agencies focus their efforts on fighting money laundering by banks and financial institutions. However, several non-financial sectors, such as real estate and luxury goods, are extremely vulnerable to illicit financial flows. Now is the time to clean up the sector and close this loophole for the corrupt.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, International Trade and Finance, and Reform
For some people national borders constitute an insurmountable barrier. For others, they represent a comfortable way to hide ill-gotten wealth and to escape accountability for their actions. Now is the time to close the legal loopholes that allow corrupt individuals to elude justice for themselves and their money.
Shedding light on who benefits from companies is a key defence for stopping corruption. Such information helps to prevent a safe haven to hide the proceeds of corruption and aids in revealing the money trail behind it.
Gender inequality and corruption are closely inter-linked. Gender inequalities undermine good governance, sustainable growth, development outcomes and poverty alleviation. Where countries have made advances in women's empowerment and gender equality, they have witnessed lower levels of corruption over time.
Schools and teaching are essential tools in the fight against corruption. A quality education has the power to strengthen personal integrity, raise awareness of rights and responsibilities, reduce social inequality and break the chain of corruption.
Education is a fundamental human right. All around the globe it is seen as the key to a better future, life with dignity and a sustainable livelihood. Funding is critical to ensure that education achieves these ends. But resources are not sufficient alone. Corruption and mismanagement can squander funds before schools ever see them. A series of integrated mechanisms is needed to stop these losses before they start.
The global demand for education has significantly boosted the economic attractiveness of getting into the higher education business. Many new providers in all shapes and sizes have sprung up in recent years, creating quality control challenges regarding their operations. External evaluations and independent assessments offer students and society one of the most effective ways to size up these newly established institutions and to combat any corrupt practices that they may employ in their operations.
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, Education, and Privatization
Universal primary education is one of the eight pledges of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that are set to be met by 2015. Since the goals have been adopted, corruption and governance deficits have undermined their achievement. In the case of education, progress has been mixed and there are wide disparities among groups. The number of students staying in the education system through primary school has reached 90 per cent. Yet, enrollment rates have seen a declining trend, and poor governance and corruption have been pointed to as among the culprits.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Education, and Governance
Public participation is an essential element of good governance, helping to build trust, bring expertise, strengthen legitimacy, and close gaps in accountability. Effective public participation, in climate change or in any area, has three interrelated elements: access to information, which allows for informed public opinion; direct engagement, which gives the public a chance to influence policy; and oversight, which allows the public to assess the implemented policies.
Topic:
Civil Society, Climate Change, Corruption, Environment, and Governance
Aid flows provide developing countries with an important source of financing that can be used to help build schools, staff hospitals, construct roads and provide clean water. In 2010, aid totalled more than US$ 128 billion, one-fifth of which went to Africa.Yet aid, also known as official development assistance (ODA), has not always been effective at achieving results with the inputs provided. Corruption and mismanagement result from low levels of transparency, accountability and integrity by donor and partner countries.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Humanitarian Aid, Foreign Aid, and Governance
Developing countries are increasingly hosting climate change mitigation projects. They also often provide the natural resources necessary for low-carbon technologies.
Topic:
Climate Change, Corruption, Development, Foreign Direct Investment, and Governance
Whistleblowing is increasingly recognised as an important tool in the prevention and detection of corruption and other malpractice. By disclosing wrongdoing in an organisation, whistleblowers can avert harm, protect human rights, help to save lives and safeguard the rule of law. The clandestine nature of corrupt behaviour means that it may never come to light unless cases are reported by people who discover them in the course of their work. But reporting can come at a high price: whistleblowers often expose themselves to great personal risks in order to protect the public interest. As a result of speaking out, they may lose their jobs, dampen their career prospects, and even put their own lives at risk. To provide a safe alternative to silence, TI recommends policy and legal measures to provide: Effective legal protection of whistleblowers against retaliation with full compensation in case of reprisals; Adequate mechanisms in public, private and not-for-profit organisations to ensure that disclosures are properly handled and thoroughly investigated; Public research, data collection, information and training to inform about the public benefit of whistleblowing.
Topic:
Civil Society, Corruption, Crime, Human Rights, and Law
A comprehensive regulatory framework for the private sector is a prerequisite for a transparent, honest and just society: where regulation is weak, corruption risks grow strong. As the primary rule makers and enforcers, governments have a responsibility to ensure the effective regulation of markets, protection of citizens and enforcement of laws. Ultimately, an inadequate or unstable regulatory framework for the private sector — without the will, power or resources to enforce legislation — facilitates the marginalisation of stakeholder rights, distortion of markets and negligent or corrupt practices.
Corporate integrity is often perceived to be the product of ethical leadership, strong compliance and effective regulations that prevent and sanction wrong-doing. While these elements are essential, each on their own is not sufficient to comprehensively and sustainably tackle the broad range of interrelated corruption risks that face companies.
Topic:
Corruption, Crime, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Cartels are illegal and costly. They inflate prices for consumers, exact an economic toll on countries and undermine the integrity of companies. Cartels can form in any sector, ranging from health care and transport, to construction and telecommunications. They leave no industry untouched or consumer unburdened. When companies engage in collusion by conspiring to fix prices, markets become inefficient and consumers bear unjustified price hikes that can reach up to 100 per cent.
Topic:
Corruption, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Law
The collapse of global financial markets in September 2008 has ignited a debate on what caused their quick undoing. As captured in the comments of the OECD Secretary-General, there is a growing sentiment that poor corporate governance is one of the forces to blame. It allowed the transparency, accountability and integrity of companies to be compromised and for abuses to go unchecked, particularly on matters of corruption.
Topic:
Corruption, Genocide, Markets, and Financial Crisis
Corporate lobbying and financing of political activities are carried out by most large corporations. Lobbying enables them to understand, track and shape the development of legislation and regulation. Financial and in-kind contributions to parties and campaigns can be used to support a country's political process and development. Both sets of activities, when undertaken with integrity and transparency by a company, can be a legitimate and positive force. Yet, the extensive funds at the disposal of businesses and the close relationship that exists between many companies and lawmakers can lead to undue, unfair influence in a country's policies and politics.