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Statement of the UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov, on 
International Anti-Corruption Day

9 December 2014

Corruption reaches into boardrooms, government, law enforcement, education, healthcare and sport, among many other areas.

No country, region or field of endeavour escapes the pull of this crime. Corruption drives up prices, erodes business credibility, diverts public funds and undermines equity and fairness across societies.

But its influence has rippled outwards. Once considered to be the simple cost of doing business, corruption is now the destructive price paid by millions of citizens, especially the poor.

It may be seen in missing tracts of forest, lost classrooms, absent hospitals and unbuilt roads. Corruption, today, represents a serious brake on the forward motion of sustainable development and building effective institutions.

Just as significantly, corruption oils the wheels of other damaging crimes, including illicit trafficking in drugs, people, animals, timber and guns.

In the face of these challenges, our global resistance to corruption hinges on every country ratifying and implementing the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), as well as entering into its peer review mechanism.

This essential tool, founded on the mutual trust of nations working side by side has proven to be a transformational experience for participating countries and is delivering tangible results. These range from meaningful reform to the strengthening of anti-corruption institutions all over the world.

But others also have a nurturing role. Business, and business groups, need to speak out, and in doing so, acknowledge that a company’s brand is driven by good practices, ethical behaviour and sound procurement rules.

Civil society is also working to ensure that corruption is confronted. This work is crucial and UNODC will continue to work closely with civil society in the future.

Next year, the Sixth Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC will be held in St. Petersburg. It offers an opportunity to further strengthen global anti-corruption action and deliver the message that corruption has no place in our world.

On the International Day against Corruption, I welcome the tremendous efforts against corruption undertaken by governments, UN agencies, the private and public sector, civil society, academia and the media.

I pledge that UNODC will continue to work with its partners to help eliminate corruption, and to support the wider UN’s work in the area of protecting and promoting sustainable development.

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Download more info about the campaign here.

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December 9, the day when the UN Convention Againts Corruption was adopted, has been marked as the International Anti-Corruption Day since 2005.This year, UNDP and UNODC in collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi, are pleased to announce the new logo and theme for the  2014 global campaign:

“Break the Corruption Chain”.

The message is simple: taking back what was lost through corrupt practices is everyone’s responsibility. Governments and civil society organizations, the private sector and the media, the general public; including the youth, play a pivotal role in fighting corruption and as such should take a stand to break the corrupt chain.

Join us in commemorating the International Anti-corruption Day and #breakthecorruptchain.

Download more info about the campaign here.

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19-20 November 2014: In cooperation with the Central Authority for Corruption Prevention in the Kingdom of Morocco, UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Arab States organized high level regional consultations on future directions to support anti-corruption and integrity efforts in Arab countries,

The Consultations brought together more than 70 leading public officials, activists and specialists, including representatives of concerned agencies, ministries, civil society, the business community, donors and regional and international organizations.

The consultations aimed to enable participating stakeholders to explore the prospective for cooperation in the framework of the second phase of UNDP’s Regional Project on Anti-Corruption and Integrity in the Arab Countries (2015-2017), in light of the achievements made and the lessons learned during its first phase (2011-2014), while also taking into consideration the effects of the ongoing regional transformations.

The various sessions facilitated an in-depth exchange of comparative experiences and interactive discussions on priorities related to legislative and institutional reforms, in light of the UN Convention against Corruption. It also enabled participants to address effective approaches to reduce corruption risks in sectors that are critical for development, and to explore entry points to strengthen the capacities of specific groups of stakeholders that are likely to add value to related initiatives.

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15-17 November 2014: Earlier this year, UNDP’s Regional Project on Anti-Corruption and Integrity in the Arab Countries supported the piloting of a training course in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia – in partnership with leading business association in those countries – specifically designed to engage small and medium enterprises in the region against corruption and equip them with options and tools for playing a more active role in this regard. Building on the lessons learned from these pilots, UNDP-ACIAC is organizing in Casablanca on 15-17 November 2014 a regional workshop titled “Towards Disseminating the “Acting against Corruption” Training Course for Small and Medium Enterprises in the Arab countries”. The overall aim is to prepare for rolling out the course across the region in an effective and sustainable manner. This will be done through interactive sessions that seek to reinforce knowledge and ownership of the training materials; strengthen the trainers’ preparation and delivery skills and discuss practical ideas on how to expand the dissemination of the training materials. The course has been developed with the support of UNDP-ACIAC in collaboration with representatives of the business community in the Arab region and independent experts and in partnership with the Siemens Integrity Initiative. Participants are expected to include trainers who have helped to pilot the course; independent experts and representatives of partner business organizations, namely the Arab Institute of Business Managers in Tunisia, the General Confederation of Enterprises of Morocco, and the Egyptian Junior Business Association.

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