World states mark Int'l Anti-Corruption Day

CAIRO, Dec 8 (MENA) - World countries will mark the International Anti-Corruption Day which falls on Monday as anti-corruption is now an integral part of global, regional and national development agendas.

Corruption is recognized as a major obstacle and anti-corruption as a key accelerator to sustainable development.

"To mark International Anti-Corruption Day, we will leverage the recognition of the multi-year "United Against Corruption" theme and will continue to support the 2030 Agenda, which forms the backbone of the campaign," UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a word on this occasion.

Every year $1 trillion is paid in bribes while an estimated $2.6 trillion are stolen annually through corruption – a sum equivalent to more than 5 per cent of the global GDP. In developing countries, according to the United Nations Development Program, funds lost to corruption are estimated at 10 times the amount of official development assistance.

Corruption is a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies. No country, region or community is immune.

We must unite against corruption to stop the drain on resources caused by illicit financial flows. The United Nations Convention against Corruption, ratified by nearly every country in the world, gives us the means to strengthen our commitment to addressing this issue.

On this International Day, I urge people everywhere to continue to work on innovative solutions to win the battle against corruption and to ensure that precious resources serve the peoples of the world.

According to the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International, Denmark ranks first place out of 180 countries and it has consistently been in the top-4 since the publication of the first report in 1995.

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

The World Bank estimates that 20 - 40 per cent of water sector finances are lost to corrupt practices. Similar rates apply for the transport and energy sectors. In some sectors, this is exacerbated by criminal activities. Between 15 - 30 per cent of global logging activities are illegal. In key countries that produce tropical timber, this rate can be as high as 50 – 90 per cent of the volume of all forestry.