CORRUPTION: A VERY SHORT INTRODUCTION
In the simplest of formulations, corruption is the misuse of public office or entrusted power for private gain. Behind this simple formula, however, we find a whole host of different corrupt activities: from the low-level rent-seeking of a customs official, through the payment of bribes by a multinational firm, to so-called “grand corruption” involving the large-scale embezzlement of revenues by kleptocratic regimes. It is clear that this variation in scale results in a diversity of impacts: corruption effects everyone from the well-off visa applicant paying a 5% “rent” to a corrupt customs official, to thousands of people crippled by the war and poverty that can result from the wholesale looting of public funds by kleptocratic regimes.
As well as varying in form and scale, corruption also takes root at multiple levels of government and society. From massive patron-client networks to the mild nepotism of a mid-level public servant, Robert Kiltgaard summed up the reach of corruption in the elegant formula: corruption = (monopoly + discretion) – accountability. In other words, corruption begins anywhere that power is freed from oversight.
As a result of this diversity, anti-corruption efforts take place on many interlocking fronts. Transparency International’s Jeremy Pope described good-governance – the key to the fight against corruption – as consisting of eleven “pillars of integrity” made up of the: Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Auditor-General, Ombudsman, Watchdog Agencies, Public Service, Private Sector, International Actors and Civil Society. It is perhaps the last three of these – the non-state and supra-state actors – that have the most important role to play, especially in places where the institutions of state have been captured and corrupted. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview and a critique of the actions of some of these actors and bodies.
We will begin by taking a general look at the issues of corruption in the world today – what the main debates are, who the main actors are, what progress has been made and what the prospects are for the future. We will then proceed to a more in-depth look at corruption through a number of thematic frames: corruption and human rights, corruption and democracy, corruption in conflict and peace-building and finally corruption and development. This will allow us to explore and hopefully elucidate some of the key terms of the debate with a special focus on NGO perspectives and priorities. We will then look at some of the actors involved, beginning with an overview of some non-state actors by type: international financial institutions, universities, think tanks and NGOs. We will move on to focus in on a number of organizations that we feel to be among the most interesting and significant actors. Lastly, we will look at a case study involving extractive industry involvement in West Africa and civil society responses.
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CORRUPTION AND CIVIL SOCIETY: A LITTLE HISTORY…
When Paul Wolfowitz succeeded the Australian-American James Wolfensohn as head of the World Bank he made the fight against graft and corruption a focus of Bank policy. He stepped up efforts to blacklist contractors known to have engaged in corrupt activities and talked long and hard about the importance of governance in achieving development goals. But as he leaves the stage, tarred by a corruption scandal all his own, there are questions over whether the Bank will retain what has been, for many, an unpopular and even counterproductive focus.
Whether he stays or goes, and whether or not his successor places as much importance on corruption as he has, there is no doubt that issue will remain high on the international development agenda; a place it has occupied for almost two decades. Corruption in various forms has been about for centuries. The word itself comes to us via Middle English from the Latin corruptus, meaning to ‘mar, bribe, destroy,’ from cor- ‘altogether’ + rumpere ‘to break’. For our purposes, however, the story starts much more recently, in the early 1990s when Transparency International, a Berlin-based NGO, began developing corruption-fighting tools and providing them to national chapters, each with a country-specific focus. In many respects Transparency International was crystallizing and operationalising many of the anti-corruption ideas implicit in the goals of the Karl Popper-inspired Soros Foundation Network, set up in the early 1980s by the billionaire financier George Soros to promote the spread of ideas, freedom and information in the then politically closed societies of Eastern Europe. Interestingly, one of the spurs to the creation of a strong civil society movement to combat corruption was perceived inaction on the part of international financial institutions such as the World Bank, which, at the time, viewed corruption as beyond its remit and primarily a problem for the public sectors of developing states.
Via a process of norm-diffusion and emulation, corruption has seeped from the first-movers (primarily corruption-focused NGOs and civil-society bodies) into the remit and the discourse of everyone from traditional development NGOs such as Oxfam and Save The Children through universities and think-tanks (where it has become a key part of disciplines such as conflict and security studies and international development) to state aid agencies and international organizations as diverse as the World Bank, the EU and the OECD. Of course all of these organizations and fields don’t share one focus or even agree on one definition. It is thus the purpose of the following section to map out some of the main issues and identify some of the key players in each field.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES?
Corruption and Human Rights
While corruption itself is often only a footnote to the statements of human rights NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, it is clear that the protection of human rights, good-governance and anti-corruption efforts are tightly linked. As the noted Human Rights lawyer Christian Tomuschat points out, the conduct of elites and government officials is “a
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decisive factor in bringing the prevailing societal climate in a given state up to the level of the expectations raised” by principles of human rights and democracy.
Corruption in government puts it clearly at odds with many fundamental premises of civil, political and economic rights. To take just one example, Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that:
1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
By reducing the accountability of government to its citizens, making public services a good that must be bought rather than a right, and by undermining democracy, corruption is manifestly a major obstacle to those wishing to realize the rights contained in Article 21 of the UDHR above.
While we will discuss the relationship between corruption and economic development below, it is worth noting here that if we conceive of development in a different way, as, in Amartya Sen’s words, a “process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy” then the capture of the state (as grand corruption is often called) can only be a step backwards for those wishing to use it as a vehicle for the realization of their fundamental freedoms.
Corruption in Conflict and Peace Building
Possible links between corruption and conflict first began to be enunciated by scholars such as the Canadian Philippe Le Billon, Janine Aron at The University of Oxford and the Portuguese academic José Tavares. These scholars, like many in the field, assert that corruption can, in many situations, act as a stabilizing force, reinforcing bonds of reciprocity between members of patron-client networks. It is argued, however, that such networks rely on a steady supply of funding to maintain and that as external or internal shocks (such as changes in aid or resource revenues) reduce the ability of actors to finance such networks corruption can drive a descent into conflict as actors begin to fight over smaller and smaller shares of the patronage pie.
An additional mechanism by which corruption is said to increase the likelihood of conflict occurs in situations where patronage networks operate on ethnic or geographical lines. This can lead to increased grievances among some members of society as corruption-financed inequities widen. Many case studies of resource-rich states support this view and it is widely agreed that the grievances caused by widening corruption-fuelled inequality provided at least some of the motivation to rebel groups fighting in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola.
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In a similar way, it is contended, corruption can help to destabilize peace-building efforts in such states as fighters attempt to gain control of lootable resources and revenue flows during the negotiation process – a competition that can hinder or halt the search for equitable solutions.
Corruption and Development
As we noted above, it was precisely a lack of interest in the links between corruption and development among senior World Bank staff that prompted Peter Eigen and others to set up Transparency International in the early 1990s. It is of course now widely recognized that, for a number of reasons, corruption is a major obstacle to international development. In a recent World Bank survey, 150 high-ranking public officials in 60 countries ranked corruption as the number one impediment to development and growth. This is so for a number of reasons:
o Corruption, and bribery in particular, raises the transaction costs in an economy. In this way it acts like a tax but one which falls particularly heavily on the shoulders of small and medium-sized firms.
o Corruption undermines state legitimacy and damages democracy, something with increased ramifications for poor states with already weak institutions.
o Rent-seeking activities on the part of public officials can dramatically decrease the amount of foreign aid reaching its intended destination.
o Corruption leads to inefficient economic outcomes, impeding investment and leading to a misallocation of resources to the big projects that provide the biggest kickbacks.
o Corruption that allows firms to override environmental and social regulations can lead to dramatic outcomes as tropical forests are plundered, rivers are polluted and human rights are violated.
Corruption and Democracy
Some have argued that a little bit of corruption is good for democracy. The contention is that a little bit of bribery and nepotism helps democracies run by easing transaction costs, cutting through bureaucracy, and building networks of people bound together by obligations of reciprocity. There is a growing consensus, however, that quite the opposite is true.
o Corruption damages the collective-action processes at the heart of democracy by eroding the links between public participation and action by policymakers. By reducing the accountability of those in power, corruption, in the words of Mark A. Warren “chang[es] public agencies of collective action to instruments of private benefit.”
o Corruption erodes citizens’ rights by transforming them into “favours” that can, and must, be bought and traded.
o Corruption abrades the very fabric of democracy by reducing trust in government and undermining the legitimacy of those in power.
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WHO IS INVOLVED?
Within the sphere of corruption issues, there are a number of different actors. Without going into great detail, this section outlines some of the activities and objectives of the key players.
International Organisations
The primary anti-corruption instrument of the United Nations (UN) is the Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), adopted by General Assembly resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003. It entered into force in late 2005. At the UN Office on Drugs and Crime the UNCAC sits alongside other measures as part of its Global Programme Against Corruption (GPAC). These include: an annual Anti-Corruption Day (held on December 9) and an Anti-Corruption Toolkit. The UN Online Network in Public Administration and Finance also undertakes anti-corruption efforts through its regular Global Forums on Reinventing Government – the most recent of which, to be held in June 2007, has a focus on building trust in government.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has been active in seeking the implementation in national law of its Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Convention). This is a particularly interesting instrument as it shifts the focus of anti-corruption efforts away from the governments of developing states and onto firms and individuals in the developed world.
While not explicitly a focus of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), anti-corruption efforts are implicit in many of its activities, including its democratization, human rights and economic stabilization programmes,
Development Banks & International Financial Institutions
As we noted above, the World Bank has been heavily involved in anti-corruption efforts over the last decade. It has been joined since 1996 by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has consistently included recommendations on corruption and good-governance in its policy advice to states. In addition, its technical assistance programme has aimed to strengthen aspects of government operations (such as taxation and customs and excise), which are particularly susceptible to corrupt activities. Regional development banks such as the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank have also increased their focus on anti-corruption and transparency.
Multinational Corporations
While governments, international institutions and NGOs have led the fight against corruption it is indisputable that multinational corporations have a key role to play. In the absence of international regulation covering many of their activities (especially in foreign jurisdictions) the focus, thus far, has been on voluntary mechanisms and public pressure. Added in 2004, the new tenth principle of the UN Global Compact states: “Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.” But while adequate legal or oversight mechanisms are lacking it is hard to see how much progress is being made.
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Again, with a focus on multinational corporations, the Publish What You Pay Campaign is an initiative of a number of NGOs including Global Witness, Save The Children and Transparency International as well as George Soros, chairman of the Open Society Institute. It has worked (among other things) on measures to increase transparency in transactions between extractive industries and governments of resource-rich developing states. It has been successful in influencing the stance of both the World Bank and the IMF on extractive industry investments as well as in prompting the British Government to set up the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in 2002.
Business Associations & Lobby Groups
Groups such as the International Chamber of Commerce have published voluntary anti-corruption guidelines and “codes of conduct” for international business. In addition, they produce an anti-corruption handbook for firms. Due to the voluntary nature of these mechanisms and distinct lack of oversight bodies it is difficult to gauge how effective these measures have been.
Governments
Spurred on by action at the international level (such as the implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention), northern governments have increasingly adopted regulation outlawing corrupt activity by its nationals or firms operating abroad. Examples of this include recent Argentinean law 25.188, which penalizes transnational bribery, the 1999 Canadian Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, and the German Act on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions of the same year. Such measures have (notably in the United States) resulted in the prosecution of several firms. A secondary measure of efficacy, however, is to be found in the fact that states are increasingly “named and shamed” for failing to properly pursue anti-corruption cases. This was notably the case with the United Kingdom, which was widely condemned by the OECD and others for its refusal to pursue corruption investigations against BAE Systems on “national security” grounds.
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
Turning lastly to NGOs, it is clear that work in the non-governmental sector has been seminal in bringing corruption issues onto the global agenda. As we noted above, it was pioneering work by the Soros Foundations and Transparency International that forced larger institutions such as the World Bank to follow in their footsteps. Following these pioneers there has been a veritable explosion in the number of corruption-focused organizations working worldwide. Many of these can be found in the list in Annex 1 and some of the key players will be discussed in more detail below.
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NGO PERSPECTIVES, INITIATIVES &ACTIVITIES
There are a vast number of NGOs working in the field of anti-corruption. While an attempt has been made in Annex 1 to be more comprehensive, the following sample is merely meant to be representative. For this reason we have chosen to look, alongside the major international players, at a selection of regional groups. These vary enormously in scale, from the half-dozen employees of the Timorese La’o Hamutuk, to the well-financed and organized Stefan Batory Foundation, based in Poland. They also vary widely in focus. While corruption is an overriding theme, organizations have been chosen that approach the issues from a variety of angles, from accountability in humanitarian agencies, to multinationals in extractive industries.
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AFRICA
African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)
www.aneej.org
African Network for Environmental and Economic Justice (ANEEJ)_
123 First East Circular Road,_
BENIN CITY
Nigeria
Phone: +234-52-258748m
Fax: +234-52-258748
Mission
The African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ) is a non-profit, non-political, non-government organization based in Nigeria aiming at promoting sustainable development through research, policy dialogues, workshops and advocacy. ANEEJ deals with development and social economic aspects with emphasis on World Bank and IMF financing in African Countries. ANEEJ provides information to media and NGOs on debt issues.
The chosen mission of ANEEJ is to act as catalyst, mobilize, medicate and act directly in several society processes dealing with the improvement of quality of life and respect for cultural and biological diversity. As its basis, ANEEJ believes in a democratic system for managing human interest.
The fundamental objective of ANEEJ is to act, support and collaborate in the elaboration and dissemination of new approaches; policies and activities related to human development questions.
Issues of Interest
Monitoring of government spending and revenues.
Debt and Corruption
Extractive Industries Transparency
Corruption: Position and Arguments
ANEEJ believes that funds urgently required for social development goals are being diverted by corruption. They call for greater grassroots participation in the budgetary process and highlight the importance of local government and the benefits that closer links between individuals in the sector and civil society can bring.
They see the need for national budgets to be more responsive to the needs of traditionally marginalised groups such as women, children and the physically challenged as of particular importance.
Types of Activities
Capacity Building: ANEEJ runs workshops in collaboration with international partners such as ActionAid, which aim to increase the ability of a broad spectrum of civil society groups and
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government agents to monitor government spending. As part of this initiative, ANEEJ also involves government actors in an effort to build closer links between non-state groups and individuals working in local government.
Public Eye on Oil Revenue is an ANEEJ-run campaign that complements its work as part of the Publish What You Pay initiative. These two projects aim to make companies operating in Nigeria’s oil fields disclose the disaggregated amounts they pay to government. Like many NGOs it is critical of the voluntary guidelines of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and seeks to obtain binding commitments from those firms operating in Nigeria.
Field Monitoring: ANEEJ works with fellow Nigerian civil society actors such as the Nigerian Network on Stolen Assets (NNSA) to follow up on government social projects, highlighting cases where money has been spent but work has gone unfinished or not begun at all.
Staff
Director: David Ugolor
Publications
Oil and Poverty in the Niger Delta
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Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia
www.liberiatransparency.org
Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia
Louis Reeves Compound, 21st Street - Russell Avenue
Sinkor,
MONROVIA,
Liberia.
Phone: +231 6542933
Fax: N/A
Mission
The objective of CENTAL is to institutionalize transparency and accountability in all facets of the Liberia society.
The core objectives shall be:
1. To sensitize the Liberian society and various institutions of the need to exhibit transparency and accountability in all their dealings.
2. To develop workable programs and projects that will educate people to be more transparent and accountable.
3. Campaign actively and creatively in the countering of corruption – which according to Transparency International is defined, as the misuse of public power for personal benefit. (This definition is considered wide enough to include corruption in the Private & Public Sectors – the people being entrusted power). Within this there are two distinct but overlapping areas: international corruption (exemplified in corruption in international business transactions) and corruption at the national level.
4. Provide capacity building for NGOs, PVOs, local government institutions, churches, schools etcetera on how to manage their meagre resources and to be accountable to donors and to their members.
5. Evolve a donor evaluation team that will ensure that funds given various groups are adequately accounted for.
6. Collaborate with the government of Liberia and private business to create more transparent and accountable society.
Issues of Interest
Party Finance and Electoral Reform
Extractive Industry Transparency
Economic Policy Reform
Corruption: Position and Arguments
CENTAL believes that adequate monitoring of party finance and detection of electoral fraud is a key way in which the candidate playing field can be levelled, increasing democracy and allowing access for challengers to vested government interests.
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CENTAL also argues for greater transparency by those operating in extractive industries. It advocates mandatory disclosure of payments by firms to government.
Types of Activities
Party Finance and electoral fraud: CENTAL, in collaboration with fellow members of the Campaign Monitoring Coalition (CMC) (including: the Liberian Institute of Public Opinion, (LIPO), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), as well as the U.S Agency for International Development (USAID)), has conducted workshops for civil society and members of the public. Themes include: how to monitor the income and expenditure of candidates and detecting electoral fraud.
Policy Dialogue: CENTAL has hosted a number of forums for civil society, members of the public, business leaders and members of the government to discuss the content and implementation of sound economic policy and anti-corruption measures.
Publish What You Pay: as part of the PWYP coalition CENTAL lobbies government for greater transparency regarding payments by companies operating in extractive industries in Liberia.
Staff
Program Director: G. Jasper Cummeh, III
Publications
N/A
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Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
www.psam.org.za
South Africa
Phone: +27 466038358
Fax: +27 466227215
Mission
To build African institutions and social relationships of accountability which ensure government responsiveness to socio-economic rights and the effective use of public resources.
Issues of Interest
Relationship between transparency and accountability in government and democracy.
Management of public assets.
Awareness raising and citizen participation.
Corruption: Position and Arguments
PSAM has a rights-based approach, which sees government accountability as essential if the social and economic rights of citizens are to be protected.
Types of Activities
Case Monitoring Database: In order to promote public and civil-society awareness of corruption issues, PSAM’s website provides details of corruption, misconduct and maladministration cases involving selected government institutions and departments. The database invites relevant members of the government to respond to the cases with details of any measures being taken to address the situation. In addition, the database endeavours to bring relevant cases to the attention of national oversight bodies
Performance Monitoring: Through analysis of statements and documents by government and its relevant oversight bodies, the performance monitoring projects endeavours to provide oversight of government progress in achieving targets, in effectively utilizing public resources and in implementing the recommendations of anti-corruption and oversight bodies.
Surveys: PSAM conducts a regular surveys into corruption perception by public officials.
Capacity Building in Civil Society: This project aims to inform members of the public of their rights in dealing with public officials as well as build monitoring capacity. The project has conducted workshops as well as published a book: “Know Your Rights/Wazi Amalungelo Akho” which provides advice for civil society actors. In addition, the project has begun surveying members of the public about their experience as receivers of various public services and bringing deficiencies to the attention of the relevant bodies.
Advocacy: The most visible part of PSAM’s advocacy work is a weekly column in the Daily Dispatch Newspaper outlining accountability issues.
Staff
Director: Colm Allan,
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Publications
PSAM. 2006. Corruption, Human Rights and Development – the case of the PSAM in South Africa. Warsaw: United Nations Conference on Anti-Corruption Measures, Good Governance and Human Rights. 8/9 November.
PSAM. 2006. Accountability Monitoring in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Manila: Civil Society Engagement in Monitoring Public Service Delivery. 7 November.
Allan, Colm. 2004. A Critical Reflection on Current Civil Society Anti-Corruption Strategy and the Principle of Accountability. Introductory input at roundtable entitled: A Review of Anti-Corruption Strategies – The Role of Civil Society Organized by The Open Society Foundation.
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ASIA
La’o Hamutuk (East Timor Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring and Analysis)
www.laohamutuk.org
La’o Hamutuk
PO Box 340,
Dili,
Timor-Leste
Phone: +670 3325013
Fax: +670 3325013
Mission
La'o Hamutuk is a joint East Timorese-international organization that seeks to monitor and to report on the activities of the principal international institutions present in Timor Lorosa'e as they relate to the physical and social reconstruction of the country. The institute operates under the assumption that the people of East Timor must be the ultimate arbiters of the reconstruction process and, thus, that the process should be as democratic and transparent as possible. In this regard, La'o Hamutuk provides non-partisan analysis of international activities in the territory with the goal of facilitating greater levels of effective East Timorese participation in the reconstruction and development of the country. In addition to providing information on, and analysis of, the reconstruction and development processes, La'o Hamutuk works to improve communication between international institutions and organizations and the various sectors of East Timorese society. Finally, La'o Hamutuk serves as a resource centre, providing literature on different development models, experiences, and practices, as well as facilitating contacts between East Timorese groups, and specialists and practitioners involved in matters relating to development in various parts of the world.
Issues of Interest
Extractive Industries Transparency
Corruption: Position and Arguments
La’o Hamutuk are concerned by the fact that a large percentage of international aid, and Foreign Direct Investment bypasses government processes and accountability procedures. Of particular concern are companies operating in Timor’s oil and gas reserves, which are so far failing to follow the principles of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
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Types of Activities
OilWeb is a CD-based reference for oil and gas issues concerning East Timor.
Monitoring of implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI): La’o Hamutuk has campaigned the Timorese government to fully implement the principles of the EITI and increase public consultation and the transparency of the relevant legislative process. In addition, it has lobbied international actors, including the World Bank, seeking changes to the EITI, which would make it more binding and enforceable on parties. Finally, La’o Hamutuk has recognised that knowledge of Timor’s natural resources and their use (including the workings of the petroleum fund) is largely limited to populations in urban areas; a fact that increases distrust and fear among members of the rural population. To remedy this situation La’o Hamutuk is working to spread information countrywide through its weekly show on national radio, its website and regular Tetum (Surat Popular) and English language (La’o Hamutuk Bulletin) publications.
Staff
Staff members responsible for natural resources monitoring: Guteriano Nicolau and Santina Soares
Publications
La’o Hamutuk. 2006. Petroleum in Timor-Leste. Ecuador: International Forum on Petroleum, Human Rights and Environmental Reparation. October.
La’o Hamutuk & Luta Hamutuk. 2006. Timor-Leste and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative: An Overview from Civil Society. Norway: Presentation to EITI meeting. October.
La’o Hamutuk. 2005. Oil in Timor-Leste: A Discussion of Economic, Ecological and Moral Debt. OilWatch. September.
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Lok Satta: People Power
www.loksatta.org
Foundation for Democratic Reforms / Lok Satta 401
Nirmal Towers
Dwarakapuri Colony
Panjagutta Hyderabad-82
India
Phone: +91 40 233 50790
Fax: +91 40 233 50783
Note
Lok Satta’s National Coordinator and Founder: Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan has recently launched a political party of the same name and is contesting local and national elections. The Lok Satta Party maintains a separate website to the NGO but it is unclear how strong the links are between the organizations.
Mission
Lok Satta is dedicated to creating a suitable environment for all Indians to realize their maximum possible potential through comprehensive reforms in the Indian governance.
To establish a citizen-centred, genuinely democratic governance reflected by clear linkages between: Taxes and public services, Vote and well-being, Authority and accountability.
To strive for a governance system that can fulfil the necessary preconditions for a civilized democracy: Rule of law, Basic freedoms, Basic infrastructure and economic opportunities, Universal access to primary health and school education, Speedy and efficient justice
Issues of Interest
o Governance and Accountability
o Electoral and Political Reform
o Judicial Sector Reform
Corruption: Position and Arguments
Governance and Accountability: Lok Satta argues that governance and accountability needs to be improved through the implementation of more transparent processes for the appointment of government officials. At the level of state and government heads it contends that more accountability can be achieved through direct election. For those already in power Lok Satta proposes a system be implemented limiting the number of terms for which an individual can stand. To improve accountability they advocate the creation of an independent anti-corruption authority as well as the implementation of broader rules guaranteeing freedom of information.
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Electoral and Political Reform: In the area of electoral and political reform Lok Satta aim to increase the transparency of political parties to outside scrutiny, especially in the area of party finance. They advocate greater independence for the Electoral Commission as well as improved systems to prevent vote rigging. Citing dramatic figures on the number of Indian elected officials with criminal records they are also campaigning for more availability of information on the political and personal records of candidates for public office.
Judicial Sector Reform: Lok Satta promote the creation of more courts and the employment of more judges to bring India up from its current 11 courts per million people to 100 courts per million. In addition, they recommend the creation of a national Indian Judicial Service as well as an increase in the number of independent prosecutors employed by the state.
Type of Activities
Most of Lok Satta’s energy is directed towards Awareness Building and Advocacy. In this area there are three main campaigns.
“Election Watch” is the largest of Lok Satta’s campaigns and aims to promote electoral and governance reform as well as improve public awareness of relevant issues and improve electoral participation. It has worked to achieve these goals by publishing an Election Watch Manual, which, among other things involves citizens in the verification of electoral rolls and the better screening of candidates.
“Swarajya” is a governance campaign that works to improve citizen’s access to information, education and a stake in local government and decision-making. It works to achieve these goals through measures such as: signature campaigns, public meetings, protests and awareness raising through the media.
“People’s Watch” is a campaign that aims to give individuals the power and confidence to fight small-scale corruption in public services. As part of this campaign it has published a “People’s Charter” which identifies the legal rights of citizens with regards to government services.
Staff
National Coordinator and Founder: Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan
Publications
Narayan, Jayaprakash, Civil Society and Governance: Limits to State Power, Lok Satta.
Narayan, Jayaprakash, Corruption and Citizens, Hyderabad: Association for Advancement of Police and Security Sciences, 2005.
Anonymous, Governance and Development, Lok Satta.
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 21Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 21Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 21Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 21Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 21 As a Fo ndation T e Asia Foundation PO B 19 223_ SAN FRANCI CO C 94119- 223 Phone: 415 82 640 Fax: 4 5 3928 63 Mission The sia Foundat n is a on- rofi , non-gove nm n al organiza ion committed to the developm nt of a p ac ful prosperous j s , and ope Asia-Pacif c reg on. The oundation su ports p ogr ms in Asia that hel improve go erna ce, aw, nd civi society; w men' em owerm nt; econ mic ref rm and devel pment; a d inte nat onal relatio s. rawing on 50 ears of ex erience in As a, th F undation c ll borat s w th private and public p rtne s to su por leade ship and in titutio al develop ent exchanges, a d policy res arch. Iss es f Inte est Econo c and dm nistrati e reform Jud cial and insti utiona reform oca government r forms s a s epping-sto e Corr pt o : Position and rguments Th Asia Fo nda ion belie es hat orruption an be be t ta kled throu h a i tegr ted app oach wh ch changes th cost/be efit quation fac d by corrupt actors b enco ra ing eco omic, dm nistrative, judicial nd institutiona reform. In ddition, it u derline t e importa ce of highle el olitical c mm tment to a ti-corrup ion effort . Types of Activi ies The ia Fo nd tion assis s l cal ctors to c eate pu lic d scours a ound c rrupti n issues. To thi end it sp nsors c un ry s eci ic research helps efine pr blems, ai s the constr ction of ffec ive action plans an engages olitic l lea ers in the ampaign. he Foun at on as recent y c ampioned t e u e of eGo ernance as a m ans of bridging th g p betwe n overnmen an so iety an allowing rea er publ c p rusal of governm nt and state a ti ity. The A ia ounda ions curr nt atio al projects include Thailan : The Fo ndation as commis ion d research int government rocureme t, a guing that an eProcurem nt and Budg t ystem would los many o the c rrent corru tion ga s. As a Fo ndation T e Asia Foundation PO B 19 223_ SAN FRANCI CO C 94119- 223 Phone: 415 82 640 Fax: 4 5 3928 63 Mission The sia Foundat n is a on- rofi , non-gove nm n al organiza ion committed to the developm nt of a p ac ful prosperous j s , and ope Asia-Pacif c reg on. The oundation su ports p ogr ms in Asia that hel improve go erna ce, aw, nd civi society; w men' em owerm nt; econ mic ref rm and devel pment; a d inte nat onal relatio s. rawing on 50 ears of ex erience in As a, th F undation c ll borat s w th private and public p rtne s to su por leade ship and in titutio al develop ent exchanges, a d policy res arch. Iss es f Inte est Econo c and dm nistrati e reform Jud cial and insti utiona reform oca government r forms s a s epping-sto e Corr pt o : Position and rguments Th Asia Fo nda ion belie es hat orruption an be be t ta kled throu h a i tegr ted app oach wh ch changes th cost/be efit quation fac d by corrupt actors b enco ra ing eco omic, dm nistrative, judicial nd institutiona reform. In ddition, it u derline t e importa ce of highle el olitical c mm tment to a ti-corrup ion effort . Types of Activi ies The ia Fo nd tion assis s l cal ctors to c eate pu lic d scours a ound c rrupti n issues. To thi end it sp nsors c un ry s eci ic research helps efine pr blems, ai s the constr ction of ffec ive action plans an engages olitic l lea ers in the ampaign. he Foun at on as recent y c ampioned t e u e of eGo ernance as a m ans of bridging th g p betwe n overnmen an so iety an allowing rea er publ c p rusal of governm nt and state a ti ity. The A ia ounda ions curr nt atio al projects include Thailan : The Fo ndation as commis ion d research int government rocureme t, a guing that an eProcurem nt and Budg t ystem would los many o the c rrent corru tion ga s. As a Fo ndation T e Asia Foundation PO B 19 223_ SAN FRANCI CO C 94119- 223 Phone: 415 82 640 Fax: 4 5 3928 63 Mission The sia Foundat n is a on- rofi , non-gove nm n al organiza ion committed to the developm nt of a p ac ful prosperous j s , and ope Asia-Pacif c reg on. The oundation su ports p ogr ms in Asia that hel improve go erna ce, aw, nd civi society; w men' em owerm nt; econ mic ref rm and devel pment; a d inte nat onal relatio s. rawing on 50 ears of ex erience in As a, th F undation c ll borat s w th private and public p rtne s to su por leade ship and in titutio al develop ent exchanges, a d policy res arch. Iss es f Inte est Econo c and dm nistrati e reform Jud cial and insti utiona reform oca government r forms s a s epping-sto e Corr pt o : Position and rguments Th Asia Fo nda ion belie es hat orruption an be be t ta kled throu h a i tegr ted app oach wh ch changes th cost/be efit quation fac d by corrupt actors b enco ra ing eco omic, dm nistrative, judicial nd institutiona reform. In ddition, it u derline t e importa ce of highle el olitical c mm tment to a ti-corrup ion effort . Types of Activi ies The ia Fo nd tion assis s l cal ctors to c eate pu lic d scours a ound c rrupti n issues. To thi end it sp nsors c un ry s eci ic research helps efine pr blems, ai s the constr ction of ffec ive action plans an engages olitic l lea ers in the ampaign. he Foun at on as recent y c ampioned t e u e of eGo ernance as a m ans of bridging th g p betwe n overnmen an so iety an allowing rea er publ c p rusal of governm nt and state a ti ity. The A ia ounda ions curr nt atio al projects include Thailan : The Fo ndation as commis ion d research int government rocureme t, a guing that an eProcurem nt and Budg t ystem would los many o the c rrent corru tion ga s. As a Fo ndation T e Asia Foundation PO B 19 223_ SAN FRANCI CO C 94119- 223 Phone: 415 82 640 Fax: 4 5 3928 63 Mission The sia Foundat n is a on- rofi , non-gove nm n al organiza ion committed to the developm nt of a p ac ful prosperous j s , and ope Asia-Pacif c reg on. The oundation su ports p ogr ms in Asia that hel improve go erna ce, aw, nd civi society; w men' em owerm nt; econ mic ref rm and devel pment; a d inte nat onal relatio s. rawing on 50 ears of ex erience in As a, th F undation c ll borat s w th private and public p rtne s to su por leade ship and in titutio al develop ent exchanges, a d policy res arch. Iss es f Inte est Econo c and dm nistrati e reform Jud cial and insti utiona reform oca government r forms s a s epping-sto e Corr pt o : Position and rguments Th Asia Fo nda ion belie es hat orruption an be be t ta kled throu h a i tegr ted app oach wh ch changes th cost/be efit quation fac d by corrupt actors b enco ra ing eco omic, dm nistrative, judicial nd institutiona reform. In ddition, it u derline t e importa ce of highle el olitical c mm tment to a ti-corrup ion effort . Types of Activi ies The ia Fo nd tion assis s l cal ctors to c eate pu lic d scours a ound c rrupti n issues. To thi end it sp nsors c un ry s eci ic research helps efine pr blems, ai s the constr ction of ffec ive action plans an engages olitic l lea ers in the ampaign. he Foun at on as recent y c ampioned t e u e of eGo ernance as a m ans of bridging th g p betwe n overnmen an so iety an allowing rea er publ c p rusal of governm nt and state a ti ity. The A ia ounda ions curr nt atio al projects include Thailan : The Fo ndation as commis ion d research int government rocureme t, a guing that an eProcurem nt and Budg t ystem would los many o the c rrent corru tion ga s. As a Fo ndation
T e Asia Foundation
PO B 19 223_
SAN FRANCI CO
C 94119- 223
Phone: 415 82 640
Fax: 4 5 3928 63
Mission
The sia Foundat n is a on- rofi , non-gove nm n al organiza ion committed to the developm nt of a p ac ful prosperous j s , and ope Asia-Pacif c reg on. The oundation su ports p ogr ms in Asia that hel improve go erna ce, aw, nd civi society; w men' em owerm nt; econ mic ref rm and devel pment; a d inte nat onal relatio s. rawing on 50 ears of ex erience in As a, th F undation c ll borat s w th private and public p rtne s to su por leade ship and in titutio al develop ent exchanges, a d policy res arch.
Iss es f Inte est Jud cial and insti utiona reform oca government r forms s a s epping-sto e
Philippines: The Asia Foundation works with the Transparent Accountable Governance (TAG) to promote a national anti-corruption strategy. This coalition of business, civil society and government works to identify priorities as well as implement procedural and regulatory changes.
Staff
Director; Governance, Law, and Civil Society; San Francisco: William S. Cole_
Publications
N/A
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 23Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 23Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 23Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 23Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 23
Transparency and Accountability Network (Philippines)
www.tan.org.ph
Transparency and Accountability Network
Rm. 203, Ateneo Centre for Social Policy and Public Affairs,
Social Development Complex, Ateneo de Manila University,
LOYOLA HEIGHTS, QUEZON CITY,
Philippines
Phone: +63 426 5927
Fax: +63 426 6061
Mission
Vision: A Philippines characterized by transparent, accountable, efficient and effective public institutions and an informed empowered and involved citizenry intolerant of corruption.
Mission: TAN seeks to contribute significantly to the reduction of corruption in the Philippines by catalyzing and advancing a comprehensive and multi-sectoral transparency and accountability strategy founded on the prevention and prosecution of corruption and the promotion of a corruption-intolerant society.
Goals: To serve as a venue for coordinating the transparency and accountability initiatives of civil society. To engage government, the private sector, and the citizenry in a comprehensive strategy to promote transparency and accountability. To formulate, advocate and, where appropriate, implement strategic reform initiatives.
Issues of Interest
Government and Judicial Appointments.
Campaign Finance.
Government Procurement.
Corruption: Position and Arguments
TAN argues that only through increased civil society involvement and public oversight can government bodies and processes be made transparent, accountable and non-corrupt.
Types of Activities
Monitoring and encouraging reform in the state sector.
Oversight of Government Appointments: TAN has focused particularly on the selection process for the national Ombudsman, members of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and Justices of the Supreme Court. In particular, TAN aims to increase civil society and public participation in the process through capacity building activities and increased media exposure.
Campaign Finance: TAN see the current system of candidate spending caps as out of date given rising costs. It argues that most candidates are now forced to seek outside funding to cover spiralling campaign costs – money that then has to be recouped during the electoral term through corruption, kickbacks and graft. To improve transparency in the system TAN has established
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 24Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 24Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 24Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 24Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 24
(alongside the Consortium on Electoral Reforms, the Pera’t Pulitika project of the Consortium, Libertas and the Political Science Association) a monitoring campaign and associated covenant-signing process for lawmakers.
Government Procurement: TAN works as part of a network of local civil society actors to observe and report on the bidding for and awarding of government procurement contracts. In addition, TAN uses data collected by this network to actively campaign for reform of the process.
Promoting Awareness of Corruption Issues: TAN has worked with Business and civil society groups to make corruption an issue in successive elections. Alongside groups such as Philippines, Inc., The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, TAN has organized political debates and called on candidates to specifically address issues related to transparency and accountability.
Staff
Executive Director: Vincent T. Lazatin.
Publications
N/A.
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 25Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 25Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 25Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 25Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 25
EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership
www.hapinternational.org
HAP International
Maison Internationale de l´Environnement 2
Chemin Balexert 7 (first floor, room 1-08)
CH - 1219 CHÂTELAINE
GENEVA,
Switzerland
Phone: _+41 22 788 16 41
Fax: +41 22 797 38 61
Mission
The vision of HAP International is of a humanitarian system championing the rights and the dignity of disaster survivors.
The mission of HAP International is to make humanitarian action accountable to its intended beneficiaries through self-regulation, compliance verification and quality assurance certification.
The objectives of HAP International are:
1. To develop and maintain principles of accountability to beneficiaries through research, consultation, and collaboration;
2. To support members and potential members of HAP International in adhering to the principles of accountability to beneficiaries by providing training and advice;
3. To communicate, advocate, promote, and report on principles of accountability;
4. To monitor and report on implementation of HAP International's principles of accountability to beneficiaries and to accredit its members accordingly;
5. To assist members in finding solutions where concerns or complaints are raised about them.
Issues of Interest
Accountability of actors working in humanitarian aid.
Corruption: Position and Arguments
In the mid-1990s the Joint Evaluation of the International Response to the Genocide in Rwanda was published, identifying some unaddressed issues in NGO and IO accountability. In the discussions and research that followed HAP decided that the best way to promote accountability among NGO and IO actors was through the creation of an international self-regulatory body that would be able to monitor compliance as well as help actors to build accountability capacity.
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 26Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 26Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 26Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 26Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 26
Types of Activities
Accreditation: HAP works to certify those actors that meet its standards of accountability.
Advocacy: HAP aims to gain wider support among the public and NGO/IO community for accountability through advocacy and media campaigns.
Monitoring: HAP independently monitors its member organizations as well as requiring them to publish an Accountability Work Plan (AWP), which details their efforts to comply with HAP principles.
Complaints: HAP assists members with handling complaints and finding solutions when complaints are raised against them.
Staff
Executive Director: Nicholas Stockton
Publications
HAP. 2005. Humanitarian Accountability Report. Geneva: HAP.
Stockton, Nicholas. “The Accountable Humanitarian”. 3 October.
HAP. 2004. _”Example of Accountability in the field: Save the Children in Zimbabwe”. The Emergency Preparedness Bulletin: 24, Special Issue on ‘Humanitarian Accountability’ (25 February).
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 27Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 27Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 27Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 27Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 27EM Fo ndation I DEM Foundati Bols oi Zlatous inskii ereulok 8/7, r oms 1-8 MOSC W 101 00 ussia hone: (095) 624240 F x: +7 (095) 6 4240 issio The mi ion of he NDEM Fo nd tio , as utlined in he Foundati n' Ch rter, is the concepti n, cul ivation and implementat on f projects, in ti tives and programs th t m ke a con ribu ion o the developm nt of emocratic i st tutions in Russia. INDE a hieves ts mi sion thr ugh researc in pol tical sc en e, jurisp udence, conomics, soci logy, soci l psycholo y, inf rmation tec nology and ther appli d s ience . Issu s of Inte st Ant -C rruption Judicial sector reform E ectora and g vernment oni oring Rese rch on cor uption i su s I DEM believe t at th follow ng s eps are essen ial i th fight ag in t c rrupt on in R ssia: rest ra ion of emocratic p oc dures, the return of m dia indepe de ce an further eng gem nt by a l sectors it th fight or t ans arenc an accountabil ty n government. Ty es of Activ ies P li e Station isitor Week: his is a yearl eve t i h seve al go ls. irstly t aims to stre gt en t e ccountabil ty f police to ci iz ns. Se on ly, it se ks to ide ti y pol ce best pra tice a d la tly it a ms o make a ener l sses m nt of t e quality f oli e servi es Diagn stics: IN EM regularly publi hes compa ative stu ies of corr ption i R ssia with pe ial em hasi on cha ges over ti e. Demo rati Russ a Against ictato ship: t gether with t e Moscow Hels nki Group, INDEM ch irs th over ight c mmi tee of th Russian iv l C ngress. This ommittee vers es the im lementat on f legislation y he congress A tus Global Al iance INDEM helped fo nd th s alli nce, hich seeks to ncour ge tr ns ational a d multicultur l c mparative res arch and ad ocates f r a larger ro e f r NGOs i pro oti g ju ti e. EM Fo ndation I DEM Foundati Bols oi Zlatous inskii ereulok 8/7, r oms 1-8 MOSC W 101 00 ussia hone: (095) 624240 F x: +7 (095) 6 4240 issio The mi ion of he NDEM Fo nd tio , as utlined in he Foundati n' Ch rter, is the concepti n, cul ivation and implementat on f projects, in ti tives and programs th t m ke a con ribu ion o the developm nt of emocratic i st tutions in Russia. INDE a hieves ts mi sion thr ugh researc in pol tical sc en e, jurisp udence, conomics, soci logy, soci l psycholo y, inf rmation tec nology and ther appli d s ience . Issu s of Inte st Ant -C rruption Judicial sector reform E ectora and g vernment oni oring Rese rch on cor uption i su s I DEM believe t at th follow ng s eps are essen ial i th fight ag in t c rrupt on in R ssia: rest ra ion of emocratic p oc dures, the return of m dia indepe de ce an further eng gem nt by a l sectors it th fight or t ans arenc an accountabil ty n government. Ty es of Activ ies P li e Station isitor Week: his is a yearl eve t i h seve al go ls. irstly t aims to stre gt en t e ccountabil ty f police to ci iz ns. Se on ly, it se ks to ide ti y pol ce best pra tice a d la tly it a ms o make a ener l sses m nt of t e quality f oli e servi es Diagn stics: IN EM regularly publi hes compa ative stu ies of corr ption i R ssia with pe ial em hasi on cha ges over ti e. Demo rati Russ a Against ictato ship: t gether with t e Moscow Hels nki Group, INDEM ch irs th over ight c mmi tee of th Russian iv l C ngress. This ommittee vers es the im lementat on f legislation y he congress A tus Global Al iance INDEM helped fo nd th s alli nce, hich seeks to ncour ge tr ns ational a d multicultur l c mparative res arch and ad ocates f r a larger ro e f r NGOs i pro oti g ju ti e. EM Fo ndation I DEM Foundati Bols oi Zlatous inskii ereulok 8/7, r oms 1-8 MOSC W 101 00 ussia hone: (095) 624240 F x: +7 (095) 6 4240 issio The mi ion of he NDEM Fo nd tio , as utlined in he Foundati n' Ch rter, is the concepti n, cul ivation and implementat on f projects, in ti tives and programs th t m ke a con ribu ion o the developm nt of emocratic i st tutions in Russia. INDE a hieves ts mi sion thr ugh researc in pol tical sc en e, jurisp udence, conomics, soci logy, soci l psycholo y, inf rmation tec nology and ther appli d s ience . Issu s of Inte st Ant -C rruption Judicial sector reform E ectora and g vernment oni oring Rese rch on cor uption i su s I DEM believe t at th follow ng s eps are essen ial i th fight ag in t c rrupt on in R ssia: rest ra ion of emocratic p oc dures, the return of m dia indepe de ce an further eng gem nt by a l sectors it th fight or t ans arenc an accountabil ty n government. Ty es of Activ ies P li e Station isitor Week: his is a yearl eve t i h seve al go ls. irstly t aims to stre gt en t e ccountabil ty f police to ci iz ns. Se on ly, it se ks to ide ti y pol ce best pra tice a d la tly it a ms o make a ener l sses m nt of t e quality f oli e servi es Diagn stics: IN EM regularly publi hes compa ative stu ies of corr ption i R ssia with pe ial em hasi on cha ges over ti e. Demo rati Russ a Against ictato ship: t gether with t e Moscow Hels nki Group, INDEM ch irs th over ight c mmi tee of th Russian iv l C ngress. This ommittee vers es the im lementat on f legislation y he congress A tus Global Al iance INDEM helped fo nd th s alli nce, hich seeks to ncour ge tr ns ational a d multicultur l c mparative res arch and ad ocates f r a larger ro e f r NGOs i pro oti g ju ti e. EM Fo ndation I DEM Foundati Bols oi Zlatous inskii ereulok 8/7, r oms 1-8 MOSC W 101 00 ussia hone: (095) 624240 F x: +7 (095) 6 4240 issio The mi ion of he NDEM Fo nd tio , as utlined in he Foundati n' Ch rter, is the concepti n, cul ivation and implementat on f projects, in ti tives and programs th t m ke a con ribu ion o the developm nt of emocratic i st tutions in Russia. INDE a hieves ts mi sion thr ugh researc in pol tical sc en e, jurisp udence, conomics, soci logy, soci l psycholo y, inf rmation tec nology and ther appli d s ience . Issu s of Inte st Ant -C rruption Judicial sector reform E ectora and g vernment oni oring Rese rch on cor uption i su s I DEM believe t at th follow ng s eps are essen ial i th fight ag in t c rrupt on in R ssia: rest ra ion of emocratic p oc dures, the return of m dia indepe de ce an further eng gem nt by a l sectors it th fight or t ans arenc an accountabil ty n government. Ty es of Activ ies P li e Station isitor Week: his is a yearl eve t i h seve al go ls. irstly t aims to stre gt en t e ccountabil ty f police to ci iz ns. Se on ly, it se ks to ide ti y pol ce best pra tice a d la tly it a ms o make a ener l sses m nt of t e quality f oli e servi es Diagn stics: IN EM regularly publi hes compa ative stu ies of corr ption i R ssia with pe ial em hasi on cha ges over ti e. Demo rati Russ a Against ictato ship: t gether with t e Moscow Hels nki Group, INDEM ch irs th over ight c mmi tee of th Russian iv l C ngress. This ommittee vers es the im lementat on f legislation y he congress A tus Global Al iance INDEM helped fo nd th s alli nce, hich seeks to ncour ge tr ns ational a d multicultur l c mparative res arch and ad ocates f r a larger ro e f r NGOs i pro oti g ju ti e. EM Fo ndation
AntiCorruption Judicial sector reform
I DEM Foundati
Bols oi Zlatous inskii ereulok 8/7, r oms 1-8
MOSC W 101 00
ussia
hone: (095) 624240
F x: +7 (095) 6 4240
issio
The mi ion of he NDEM Fo nd tio , as utlined in he Foundati n' Ch rter, is the concepti n, cul ivation and implementat on f projects, in ti tives and programs th t m ke a con ribu ion o the developm nt of emocratic i st tutions in Russia. INDE a hieves ts mi sion thr ugh researc in pol tical sc en e, jurisp udence, conomics, soci logy, soci l psycholo y, inf rmation tec nology and ther applied science .
Staff
President: G.Satarov
Publications
Sigsbee, Ann & Victor Konovalenko. 2005. “The Mirror of Russian Corruption: Are We Foreigners In It? A Review of INDEM’s Research on Corruption in Russia” in Russia – The New Klondike? St Petersburg: Nordea Bank.
INDEM. 2005. Corruption Process in Russia: Level, Structure, Trends. Diagnostics of Corruption in Russia. July.
Golovzhinsky, K.I., S.A. Parhomenko, V.L. Rimsky, G.A. Satarov. 2005. Business and Corruption: How to Combat Business Participation in Corruption. March.
Baranov, A., Yu. Blagoveshchenskiy, I. Vinyukov, K. Golovshchinskiy, M. Krasnov, G. Satarov, M. Levin, V. Rimskiy and N. Popov. 2001. Diagnosis of Corruption in Russia. Sociological Analysis. Moscow.
Satarov, G.A. 2005. What will happen to Russia? Political scenarios till 2008. April.
Golovshchinskiy, K.I. 2004. Diagnostics of Corruptiogenicity of the Legislation.
Satarov, G.A., K.I. Golovzhinsky, M.I. Levin. 2002. Salary and Corruption: How to Pay Russian officials. Moskow: Rimsky.
Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 29Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 29Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 29Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 29Corruption: NGO Actors, Benjamin S. Buckland, 2007 29
Stefan Batory Foundation
www.batory.org
Sapiezynska 10a
00-215 WARSAW
Poland
Phone: +48 22 536 0200
Fax: +48 22 536 0220
Mission
The Stefan Batory Foundation is an independent private Polish foundation established by the American financier and philanthropist George Soros and registered in Poland in May 1988. Named after the 16th century king of Poland of Hungarian extraction the Foundation’s mission is to support the development of an open democratic society in Poland and other Central and East European countries. Key priorities include: Enhancing the role and involvement of civil society, promoting civil liberties and the rule of law and developing international cooperation and solidarity.
Issues of Interest
o Civil society development
o Transparency in public life
o Corruption
Corruption: Position and Arguments
Transparency in public life: The Stefan Batory Foundation’s anti-corruption program is run in collaboration with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Together they work to combat corruption through programs that increase the awareness and sensitivity of citizens to corruption in public life. In addition the program attempts to monitor corruption levels in government and pinpoint the corruption mechanisms operating in various sectors.
Types of Activities
The Foundation’s work can be divided into two main areas: combating corruption in day-to-day life and improving public scrutiny of government.
In the first area there are four main programmes:
1. Corruption Barometer: Each year the Foundation attempts to raise awareness of the corruption issue through a conference and presentation of data on corruption perceptions.
2. Medical Task Force: This program involves medical professionals in combating health-sector corruption
3. Legal Counselling: The Foundation supports those who have encountered corruption by providing legal support.
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4. Only Fish Don’t take Bait: This program takes the form of an annual competition with the prize going to the journalist having published the best corruption-coverage that year.
In the second area there are three:
1. Campaign Finance: In this area the Foundation works to monitor sources of funding for political candidates at all levels of government.
2. Law Making: The Foundation here attempts to ensure that government follows through on promises to implement better anti-corruption laws. It does this through signature campaigns, press conferences and monitoring conferences. In addition, it selects various parliamentary acts for review and public scrutiny.
3. Local Government Transparency: Working with local governments around the country, the Foundation attempts to implement transparency-building measures that are then expanded and monitored by civil groups around the state.
Staff
Anti-Corruption Program Director: Grazyna Kopinska
Publications
Kopinska, Grazyna. 2001. Role of Non-Governmental Organisations in the Process of Corruption Limitation. Paper presented at a colloquium on modern European standards and the ethics of transition Towards Good Governance organized by the University of London, School of Slavonic & East European Studies, July, 6-7th.
Kubiak, Anna. 2003. Corruption Barometer 2003: Public Opinion and Businessmen on Corruption. Warsaw: Stefan Batory Foundation.
Kubiak, Anna. 2002. Corruption Barometer 2002: Public and Official Opinion on Corruption in Local Government. Warsaw: Stefan Batory Foundation.
Kubiak, Anna. 2001. Corruption Barometer 2000: Corruption in the Everyday Life. Warsaw: Stefan Batory Foundation.
Transparency International (Czech Office). 2004. Transparent Town halls Seminar, Warsaw, May 14-15th, 2004 - Index V4. Comparison of the Effectiveness of Anti-Corruption Tools in the Public Administration in the Capitals of the Visegrad Four Countries. Warsaw: Stefan Batory Foundation.
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Zorig Foundation
www.zorigfoundation.org
Zorig Foundation
Ehkhtaivni Orgon Choloo, 9A
Sukhbaatar District
ULAANBAATAR
Mongolia
Phone: +976 1312649
Fax: +976 1328243
Mission
The Zorig Foundation was formed in October 1998, shortly after the murder of Sanjaasurengin Zorig, a member of the Mongolian Parliament and then Minister for Infrastructure Development.
The foundation is a non-profit, non-governmental organization whose main mission is to advance formation of democratic society and support political reforms in Mongolia.
The vision of the Zorig foundation is Advancing Democracy, Good Governance and Enhancing Strong Civil Society.
Issues of Interest
State and Government Transparency
Democracy, Human Rights and Political Freedoms
Corruption: Position and Arguments
The Zorig Foundation works to combat corruption primarily through awareness raising efforts. It has developed partnerships with members of the local media and works with them to spread its campaign to ordinary Mongolians.
Types of Activities
Scholarships: The Foundation offers financial support to students wishing to pursue study in a field congruent with the goals of the Foundation.
“Today or… it may be too late”: is an award given by the Zorig Foundation and the Mongolian Foundation for Open Society. It goes to the child, journalist, artist and member of the media that produces the essay or publication (print or film) contributing the most to changing public perceptions and attitudes toward corruption and in motivating them to act.
Staff
Foundation Director: Dr. Sanjursen Oyun.
Publications
N/A
N.B. The Foundation’s website, www.zorigfoundation.org has recently gone offline. Their current status and most recent activities are thus unknown.
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INTERNATIONAL
Global Witness
www.globalwitness.org
Global Witness_
PO Box 6042_
LONDON N19 5WP
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)20 7272 6731
Fax: +44 (0)20 7272 9425
Mission
Global Witness exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems, to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses.
Issues of Interest
o Corruption in Oil, Gas and Mining
o Transparency in Financial Institutions
Corruption: Position and Arguments
Resources and Corruption: Global Witness believes that corruption plays a key role in keeping many resource-rich states of the developing world mired in poverty and conflict. It is their view that proper information and greater transparency about the uses and flows of resource revenue are essential, both for citizens wishing to hold their governments to account as well as for those working in the international arena to increase development and end conflict.
Financial Institution Transparency: Global Witness believes that international financial institutions play a key role in facilitating corrupt transactions involving resource revenues in developing countries. It is believed that by investigating flows of funds from corrupt deals and exerting pressure on institutions and governments it is possible to make such global transactions more transparent and open.
Types of Activities
The role of Global Witness in combating corruption in the two areas highlighted above is as both investigator and advocate. In both areas field investigations are followed by high-level advocacy work, often in coalition with civil society, governments and businesses. Examples of such work include:
o The Publish What You Pay Initiative (PWYP) brings together more than 300 civil society actors in a campaign to get large oil companies to reveal the details of net payments made to entities in developing countries – details that are often regarded as secret. In order to
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force compliance with such a measure, the initiative advocates an international regulatory approach.
o The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is similar to that above in that it encourages companies working in the oil gas and mining industries to publish details of legitimate payments to entities in states in which they work. It differs from the PWYP in two main ways. Firstly, unlike the civil society coalition that is the PWYP, EITI is a process bringing actors from government, civil society and industry to the table in pursuit of the same goal. Secondly, it is a purely voluntary approach, which encourages action by firms while entailing no hard obligations or commitments.
Staff
Director: Simon Taylor
Publications
Global Witness. 2007. Briefing Document: Parliamentary Inquiry into Austrian Banks RZB and the RUE Affair: The Unanswered Questions. London: Global Witness.
Global Witness. 2006. It’s A Gas: Funny Business in the Turkmen-Ukraine Gas Trade: A Report By Global Witness. London: Global Witness Publishing.
Global Witness. 2006. Heavy Mittal? A State Within a State: The Inequitable Mineral Development Agreement Between the Government of Liberia and Mittal Steel Holdings NV. London: Global Witness Publishing.
Global Witness. 2005. The Riddle of the Sphinx: Where has Congo’s Oil Money Gone? London: Global Witness.
Global Witness. 2006. Republic of Congo’s Transparency Scorecard. London: Global Witness.
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International Association of Prosecutors
http://www.iap.nl.com/
Hartogstraat 13
2514 EP
THE HAGUE
The Netherlands
Phone: +31 70 3630345; +31 70 3630352
Fax: +31 70 3630367
Mission
a) To promote the effective, fair, impartial and efficient prosecution of criminal offences;
b) To respect and seek to protect human rights as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 1948;
c) To promote high standards and principles in the administration of criminal justice, including procedures to guard against or address miscarriages, in support of the rule of law;
d) To promote and enhance those standards and principles which are generally recognised internationally as necessary for the proper and independent prosecution of offences;
e) To assist prosecutors internationally in the fight against organised or other serious crime, and for that purpose:
a. To promote international co-operation in gathering and providing evidence; in tracking, seizing and forfeiting the proceeds of serious crime; and in the prosecution of fugitive criminals;
b. To promote speed and efficiency in such international co-operation;
f) To promote measures for the elimination of corruption in public administration;
g) To promote the professional interests of prosecutors and to enhance recognition of their crucial role in achieving criminal justice;
h) To promote good relations between individual prosecutors and prosecution agencies;
i) To facilitate the exchange and dissemination among them of information, expertise and experience; and, to that end, to encourage the use of information technology;
j) To promote examination of comparative criminal law and procedure and to assist prosecutors engaged in justice reform projects;
k) To co-operate with international juridical organisations in furtherance of the foregoing objects.
Issues of Interest
o Fraud and Corruption in Public Administration
o Tracking the Proceeds of Serious Crime
o Combating Transnational Crime
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Corruption: Position and Arguments
The IAP believes in promoting international cooperation and dialogue between prosecutors and in the spread of international best practice.
Types of Activities
Publishing International Standards for Prosecutors.
Collaboration with the UNDP Governance work such as The Programme on Governance in the Arab region (UNDP-POGAR)
Enabling the spread of best practice and the exchange of ideas through the establishment of international networks of prosecutors.
Working with the UN to providing assistance by experienced prosecutors to governance projects in developing countries.
Staff
President: Henning Fode
Publications
International Association of Prosecutors. “Recommendations on Combating
Corruption in Public Administration” IAP Best Practice Series No. 3.
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Open Society Institute
www.soros.org
Open Society Institute
400 West 59th Street
NEW YORK, NY 10019
U.S.A.
Phone: + 1-212-548-0600
Fax: + 1-212-548-4600
Mission
The Open Society Institute (OSI), a private operating and grant-making foundation, aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform. On a local level, OSI implements a range of initiatives to support the rule of law, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, OSI works to build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as combating corruption and rights abuses
Issues of Interest
o Governance and Policy
o Governance, Democracy and Human Rights
o Building Local and Transnational Civil Society Networks
Corruption: Position and Arguments
The OSI works to support democracy, accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law. It believes that this can best be achieved through support for the media, for local and global civil society as well as through public education on governance and corruption issues.
Types of Activities
The Open Society Institute is predominantly a grant-making organization; offering support for the activities of groups and organizations that support its broad goals. Examples of anti-corruption and good governance projects it is currently supporting include:
AfriMap: The Africa Governance, Monitoring and Advocacy Project seeks to monitor the compliance of various African governments with recognised standards of governance, accountability and transparency.
International Policy Fellowships support the research efforts of anti-corruption and governance professionals.
East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders aims to bring together civil society leaders in the field of anti-corruption and governance to share ideas and practical knowledge.
The Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative aims to promote democratic and accountable government in Mongolia, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Staff
Deputy Director for AfriMAP: Pascal Kambale.
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International Policy Fellowships Program Manager: Pamela Kilpadi.
East East Program Director: Mary Frances Lindstrom.
Local government and Public Service Reform Initiative Program Director: Adrian Ionescu.
Publications
Ibrahima Kane and Nobuntu Mbelle. 2007. Towards a People-Driven African Union: Current Obstacles & New Opportunities. OSI, January.
OSI. 2006. Transparency and Silence: A Survey of Access to Information Laws and Practices in 14 Countries. OSI, September.
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Transparency International
www.transparency.org
Transparency International (TI)
Alt Moabit 96
10559 BERLIN,
Germany
Phone: +49-30-34 38 20-0
Fax: +49-30-34 70 39 12
Mission
Transparency International, the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption, brings people together in a powerful worldwide coalition to end the devastating impact of corruption on men, women and children around the world. _TI’s mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption.
Transparency International challenges the inevitability of corruption, and offers hope to its victims. TI plays a lead role in improving the lives of millions around the world, by building momentum for the anti-corruption movement, raising awareness and diminishing apathy and tolerance of corruption, as well as devising and implementing practical actions to address it.
Transparency International is a global network including more than 90 locally established national chapters and chapters-in-formation. These bodies fight corruption in the national arena in a number of ways. They bring together relevant players from government, civil society, business and the media to promote transparency in elections, in public administration, in procurement and in business. TI’s global network of chapters and contacts also use advocacy campaigns to lobby governments to implement anti-corruption reforms.
Politically non-partisan, TI does not undertake investigations of alleged corruption or expose individual cases, but at times will work in coalition with organisations that do.
TI has the skills, tools, experience, expertise and broad participation to fight corruption on the ground, as well as through global and regional initiatives.
Now in its second decade, Transparency International is maturing, intensifying and diversifying its fight against corruption.
Issues of Interest
o Corruption in Politics
o Corruption in Public Contracting
o Corruption in the Private Sector
o International Anti-Corruption Conventions
o Corruption, Poverty and Development
Corruption: Position and Arguments
Transparency International is broad in its outlook. It focuses on a wide range of corruption-related issues in order to highlight the importance of the problem in the minds of the greatest diversity of actors. It thus looks at corruption, conflict and security, corruption and poverty, corruption and human rights, corruption and democracy, corruption and trade, and corruption
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and governance (in both the public and private sectors). TI is able to cast such a wide net because it does not investigate or even concentrate on individual cases. Rather, it aims to provide the tools with which corruption can be fought. To this end it focuses the greater part of its attention on the creation of diagnostics tools and processes and awareness raising among concerned actors.
Types of Activities
The structure of TI is quite flat. Ongoing internal reforms (spurred in part by allegations that the TI leadership formed an “old boys club”) aim to make it entirely democratic. It is made up of a number of national “Chapters” which operate with a large degree of discretion regarding mandates and programmes. The International Secretariat (based in Berlin) provides support to these national chapters in the form of research, coordination and advice. Major activities of TI International include:
o The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an annual ranking of states according to the perceived level of corruption amongst public officials. While often criticised as a “self-fulfilling prophesy”, the widely-publicised CPI has been instrumental in bringing the issues of corruption onto the agenda of policymakers.
o The Bribe-Payers Index (BPI) mirrors the CPI by focusing on supply side corruption. It ranks 30 leading exporters according to the willingness of firms based within their borders to pay bribes while conducting operations abroad.
o The Integrity Pact is a mechanism, which ties government procurement agencies and bidders for contracts to an agreement based on international best practice.
o Corruption Online Research and Information System is an online portal for resources on corruption and governance run by TI.
o Integrity Awards are awarded each year to organizations and individuals having made significant progress in the fight against corruption.
Staff
Chief Executive: David Nussbaum
Global Programmes Director: Corbus de Swardt
Publications
Transparency International. 2007. Global Corruption Report. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
Pope, Jeremy. 2000. TI Source Book 2000: Confronting Corruption: The Elements of a National Integrity System. Berlin: Transparency International.
Transparency International. Annual. Corruption Fighters Toolkit. Berlin: Transparency International.
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UNICORN
www.againstcorruption.org
Address N/A
Phone: N/A
Fax: N/A
Mission
UNICORN is a Global Unions Anti-corruption Network. Its overall aim is to mobilise and support trade unions to combat corruption.
UNICORN was set up in 2001 as a joint initiative of three major international trade union bodies: The Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (the TUAC); Public Services International (PSI); and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) - now the International Trade Union Confederation.
UNICORN was initially established to coordinate the trade union input to the implementation of the OECD Anti-bribery Convention, which requires signatory countries to make it illegal for individuals and companies to pay bribes to foreign public officials.
Today UNICORN responds to a broader agenda, as combating corruption is central to a range of public policy objectives: democracy building, development, debt relief, and public sector reform.
Issues of Interest
Links between corruption and: democracy building, development, debt relief, and public sector reform.
Corruption: Position and Arguments
UNICORN’s work in anti-corruption efforts is motivated by concerns over:
1. The link between corruption and the violation of workers’ and trade union rights
2. The fact that corruption undermines democracy and misallocates resources
3. Their commitment to preserving the role and integrity of the public sector
4. The importance of protecting employees who speak out in the public interest (whistleblowers)
Types of Activities
o Information Sharing: UNICORN maintains an online database and website on corruption and bribery issues involving multinational companies based in OECD member states.
o Research: UNICORN does policy-focused research on issues relevant to corruption and bribery.
Staff
Coordinator: Kirstine Drew
Publications
Drew, Kirstine. 2005. The Unicorn ECA Anti-Bribery Index. UNICORN. September.
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Drew, Kristine. 2005. Complying with The OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Corporate Criminal Liability and Corruption: Exploring The Legal Options. Seminar Report. 12th December.
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CASE STUDY: NIGERIA
In December 1999 the Anti-corruption NGO, Global Witness, published a landmark report entitled A Crude Awakening. It alleged complicity in corruption and the plundering of state assets on the part of oil and banking multinationals operating in Liberia during its 40-year civil war. The report called for greater transparency and accountability on the part of firms operating in Liberia, in other words that they publish what they pay. Inspired by this report and realizing that transparency was sorely lacking in extractive industry transactions with many states, Global Witness joined George Soros, CAFOD, Oxfam, Save the Children and Transparency International in setting up the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Campaign in June 2002.
There is good evidence to support their actions. Data from researchers at the World Bank and Oxford University shows a strong correlation between the probability of civil war and high levels of natural resources as a percentage of GDP. Furthermore, there is strong evidence to suggest that states rich in natural resources are more prone to slow growth and underdevelopment due to insufficient investment, rent-seeking by elites, low institutional quality, social instability and so-called “dutch disease” whereby (for a number of reasons) the resource extraction sector crowds out and withers other industries and parts of the public sector, including education.
PWYP aims to force firms operating in extractive industries in developing states to publish details of payments they make to governments and thus increase the overall transparency of their transactions. It is hoped that this will result in better and more responsive governance, more robust and less corrupt institutions and thus more peace, education and equitable and sustainable development. Has the campaign achieved, or is it likely to have the desired effects? In order to assess some of its chances we will look at the case of Nigeria where corruption and violence have long blighted hopes of peace and development.
Nigeria was ranked 142 of 163 in Transparency International’s 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). Even taking into account the obvious problems with using corruption perceptions as a measure, Nigeria is clearly one of the most corruption-blighted places on earth. As Easterly and Levine, two prominent academics working in the area, point out:
‘‘Public spending in Nigeria during the oil boom in the early 1990s increased by more than 50 percent, yet over the same period school enrolment shrunk due to tight education funding. The Nigerian Nobel Prize winner and dissident writer Wole Soyinka notes that a government-appointed commission of inquiry was unable to account for what happened to much of the 1990s government oil windfall’’
The dark days of the 1990s had seemed to be over when, in 1998, the country’s much-reviled dictator Sani Abacha died. Mr. Obasanjo, the charismatic former general who took power after Abacha’s untimely death did much to reform the state and curb corruption. Soon after taking office Mr. Obasanjo created the largely independent and powerful Economic and Financial
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Crimes Commission (EFCC), headed by the former policeman Nuhu Ribadu. It claimed some big scalps, ending the impunity of many thought to be beyond the law, and recovered substantial amounts of stolen assets.
Unfortunately for most Nigerians, many of Mr. Obasanjo’s reforms only scratched the surface of the deep problems facing the country. Since the discovery of Nigeria’s vast oil reserves, the country has suffered from what is known as Dutch Disease. The phrase was coined in the 1970s to describe the decline in the Dutch manufacturing sector after the discovery of natural gas reserves. Essentially it describes a situation in which high natural resource revenues do two things. Firstly they drive up the exchange rate and thus make many export-driven sectors of the economy less productive, ultimately forcing many to go out of business. Secondly, by concentrating resources (and opportunities for advancement and good salaries) in one sector, many others are crowded out of the employment market. Crucially, this second effect impacts on both the public and private sectors.
What this means in Nigeria’s case is that alternative income opportunities do not exist outside politics and the patronage networks that oil revenues have come to sustain. In practice this means that, once in power, any democratic credentials politicians like Mr. Obasanjo may once have had quickly disappear as they seek to remain in power. As Mr Obasanjo, quoted in the Economist, pointed out: the recent elections were “do or die” for his party. Power in Nigeria, it seems, has become almost the only route to survival.
This of course spells trouble for Nigeria’s chances of reducing corruption. The PWYP campaign and the related Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) have had successes. A recent Save the Children UK report commended Royal Dutch Shell’s recent progressive disclosure practices in Nigeria, after it worked with the government to reveal details of royalty payments.
The Shell example is a clear indication that PWYP is influencing some favourable outcomes in its primary goal of improving the overall transparency of extractive industry transactions. Whether we can expect spill-over from this success into the other, more ambitious, hopes of the campaign is more difficult to measure. More responsive governance and more robust and less corrupt institutions certainly do not seem to be in evidence in the present transfer of power from Mr. Obasanjo to his anointed successor, or in the squandering of public resources that has led to the increasingly fierce insurgency in the Niger Delta.
The primary lesson to be drawn from this case study is that, as PWYP would no-doubt readily admit, such campaigns can only ever be one of many steps towards combating corruption. Recalling the so-called pillars of integrity, it is clear that international actors and civil society can only play a part in what must be a combined effort on the part of the legislature, executive, judiciary, auditor-general, ombudsman, watchdog agencies, public service and the private sector.
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