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.
Sport is a global phenomenon engaging billions of people and generating annual revenues of more than US$ 145 billion. But corruption and challenges to governance threaten to undermine all the good that sport can do and joy that it brings. For Transparency International, tackling the roots of corruption in sports requires coordinated stakeholder actions. This must happen and be driven from within the sports community.
Public sector officials who have achieved positions of power and managerial control over government budgets and spending can be particularly vulnerable to corruption. Asset declarations offer a critical tool to public officials and those they serve in the prevention, detection, investigation and sanctioning of corruption.
Corruption undermines the humanitarian mission that is the raison d'être of humanitarian operations. Relief is delivered in challenging environments, in the midst of conflict and where natural disasters have stretched or overwhelmed national capacities. The injection of large amounts of resources into resource-poor economies where institutions have been damaged or destroyed can exacerbate power asymmetries and increase opportunities for abuse of power. There is often pressure to disburse aid rapidly and immense organisational challenges in suddenly expanding the scope and scale of programme delivery. Commonly, the countries in which the majority of humanitarian aid is delivered already suffer from high levels of perceived corruption prior to an emergency.
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