The International Anti-Corruption Day

Bribes paid: Large numbers: Global - Click on picture to enlarge

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 694

Another International something Day – to be followed one day later by Human Rights Day – some of them are public holiday – in some countries only! – for some there are elaborate public meetings and ceremonies – others are barely known. Special sections of society may have special ways to commemorate a less well known international day of remembrance, like in the case of the International Anti-Corruption Day, where the World Bank Offices were on duty during several days of the week, using the opportunity to lift up again their understanding of the important, destructive role of corruption.

Major sections of a World Bank declaration show this bank’s motivation.

Today the world celebrates the International Anti-Corruption Day. This has become a tradition since 2003, when 129 countries signed the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in Merida, Mexico, after working several years towards the creation of an international legal document against corruption. Even though an anti-corruption spirit must be embraced at all places and times, today is a good moment to raise awareness about some of the vast and remaining challenges of corruption not only in developing countries, but also in the most developed world.

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Thus, this is a great day to remember that a lot has been done in the fight against corruption, which would be self-evident if we look in retrospective and compare how things were two or three decades ago. However, the current crisis is also a wake-up call to review what fundamental and critical issues have been left aside in the international anti-corruption agenda.

For sure, corruption problems are complex and difficult to address in short periods of time. However, when commitment, consistence, capacity and constancy are put together, it is possible to make a difference. For instance, over the last decade some countries have shown statistically significant progress in the World Wide Governance Indicators. Beyond this evidence, there are many other countries that are on their way. They, and others left behind, might benefit from international assistance, but they also need the awareness and participation from their own citizens and leaders, to affront corruption as a development priority.

All such considerations are made on the background of the United Nations Convention against Corruption [the different language versions of the text of the United Nations Convention against Corruption are downloadable as a 430 KiB PDF file here, selecting a language at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/treaties/CAC/index.html ].

The Convention had been adopted by the UN General Assembly on 31 October 2003, and it entered into force on 14 December 2005, “on the ninetieth day after the date of deposit of the thirtieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.” Cambodia acceded to this UN Convention on 5 September 2007.

There is also further information how the implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption is monitored with examples from different countries.

Reports about the Conferences of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in the years 2007, 2008, and 2009 are also available – the Third Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, held in Doha, 9-13 November 2009, mentions also that a representative from Cambodia did participate – though this is the only reference to Cambodia in the 57 pages report about the activities in different countries, and the 2009 Session itself.

All that is impressive, especially reports from countries where the implementation of the Convention is publicly monitored and reports are available to the public for further action.

There is, however, on the other hand, the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, published by Transparency International. The 2010 Barometer, the seventh published, reflects the responses of 91,781 people in 86 countries, and offers the greatest country coverage to date.

Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer is the only worldwide public opinion survey on views and experiences of corruption. As a poll of the general public, it provides an indicator of how corruption is viewed at national level and how efforts to curb corruption around the world are assessed on the ground. It also provides a measure of people’s experience of corruption in the past year.

More than 20 countries report significantly more petty bribery than in 2006, when the same question was asked in the Barometer. The biggest number of reported bribery payments in 2010 is in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cameroon, India, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Palestine,Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda where more than 50 per cent of people surveyed paid a bribe in the past 12 months.

Almost half of all respondents say they paid bribes to avoid problems with the authorities and a quarter say it was to speed up processes.

Most worrying is the fact that bribes to the police have almost doubled since 2006, and more people report paying bribes to the judiciary and for registry and permit services than did so five years ago.

Information was collected by asking three questions. The answers from Cambodia are given here after the questions:

Question: In the past 3 years, how has the level of corruption in this country changed?

Decreased: 30% – Same 24% – Increased 62%

Question #2 To what extent do you perceive the following institutions in this country to be affected by corruption? (1 – not at all corrupt, 5 – extremely corrupt)

Areas affected by corruption- Click on picture to enlarge for clarity

The opinion poll shows for Cambodia the following order of perception:

• 4.0 Judiciary
• 3.7 Police
• 3.5 Public Officials
• 3.1 Political Parties
• 3.0 Education
• 2.9 Parliament
• 2.7 Business
• 2.6 Military
• 2.6 Media
• 1.9 NGOs
• 1.8 Religious Bodies

Question #3 In the past twelve months have you or anyone living in your household paid a bribe in any form?

On the background of these bleak reports – world wide and for Cambodia – it is a ray of hope that the Cambodian Anti-Corruption Unit has started to operate and made its first arrests.

The Mirror had reported about this new phase of dealing with corruption in Cambodia: Justice, and the Perception of Justice on Friday, 3.12.2010. Both are of concern: the perception of justice, which increases only when the achievement of justice is seen publicly and widely.

Norbert KLEIN

This article was first published by The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 694 – Thursday, 9.12.2010
Have a look at the last editorial - you can access it directly from the main page of The Mirror.

Norbert Klein is the Editor of The Mirror – The Mirror is a daily comprehensive summary and translation of the major Khmer language press - More about The Mirror

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