Anti-Corruption Organisations and Institutions
Annotated selection of the most relevant organisations and institutions involved in anti-corruption work, and direct pointers to their anti-corruption material.
NGOs
| Transparency International (TI) |
| Transparency International is the largest international non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption, bringing together civil society, business, and governments in a powerful global coalition. TI, through its International Secretariat and more than 80 independent national chapters around the world, works at national and international level to curb both the supply and demand of corruption. In the international arena, TI raises awareness about the damaging effects of corruption, advocates policy reform, works towards the implementation of multilateral conventions and subsequently monitors compliance by governments, corporations and banks. At the national level, chapters work to increase levels of accountability and transparency, monitoring the performance of key institutions and pressing for necessary reforms in a non-party political manner. See annotation on TI's links to other resources. |
| Tiri |
| Founded in 2003, Tiri is an international NGO committed to facilitating sustainable integrity reforms in government, business, and civil society. Tiri's commitment is based on the evidence of the past decades that democratic governance, poverty alleviation, and long-term business growth are only possible where governance - both public and private - works with integrity. Tiri networks are currently active in over 70 mostly developing and transition countries. These networks focus on practical applied approaches to achieve pro-integrity reform in a number of fields including Education, Reconstruction and Post-War settings, Electoral processes and Judicial processes. Tiri also develops free online resources to support reform networks globally. |
| The International Budget Project (IBP) |
| Established in 1997, the International Budget Project's objective is to promote and increase transparency in the budget process. It pursues this objective through strengthening civil society's capacity to analyse governments' budgets and to influence the budgetary processes to make them more responsive to the needs of the poor. IBP provides technical assistance to civil society partner organisations, develops tools to increase and measure transparency in the budget process, provides information to civil society groups and builds regional networks of like-minded groups. IBP's site provides a wealth of resources on the subject - training material, research, handbooks, and a database of contacts of civil society group concerned with budget work. |
| Global Organization of Parliamentarians against Corruption (GOPAC) |
| GOPAC was created and officially launched at the Second Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy in 2000. It aims to build an international network of parliamentarians organised on a regional basis to fight corruption and promote good governance. GOPAC serves as a global point of contact, connecting and supporting the work of regional groups of parliamentarians promoting good governance and fighting corruption. The Parliamentary Centre serves as GOPAC's interim secretariat. A number of regional networks have been established to strengthen the commitment and capacity of parliamentarians to fight corruption - such as the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption (APNAC), the Latin American Parliamentarians Against Corruption (LAPAC) and others - which the site provides links to. |
| Publish What You Pay |
|
This Coalition of over 300 NGO's worldwide aims at promoting and
facilitating greater transparency of transactions related to the
extraction of natural resources. On the one hand, it puts pressure
on governments to disclose how they manage these revenues. On the
other hand, it calls on big companies to disclose what they are
paying for the right to extract resources such as gas, oil etc.
|
| Global Witness |
|
A 'non-governmental investigative organisation', Global Witness is collecting first hand evidence to illustrate the nexus between illegal trade, corruption and conflict, and uses this research to campaign for change. Global Witness' website is an important resource to look at when trying to understand the link between natural resource exploitation, corruption, human rights abuses, and environmental destruction. It provides a wealth of reports on issues such as conflict diamonds, logging and violent conflict and others. |
| Global Integrity |
| Global Integrity (GI) is an NGO tracking governance and corruption trends around the world. Its most well-known resource is the Global Integrity Index, which aggregates more than 300 ‘integrity indicators’ to assess the existence, effectiveness, and citizen access to key national-level anti-corruption mechanisms. This index derives from individual country reviews which are compiled by teams of in-country researchers and journalists and published in the annual Global Integrity Report. GI also sponsors Global Integrity Dialogues, in-country stakeholder discussions and workshops designed to plot a course for the future of local anti-corruption efforts. It also hosts Global Integrity Commons, a blog addressing corruption-related news events and issues of general concern to journalists, policy-makers and others with an interest in integrity reform. |
| Global Financial Integrity |
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) promotes national and multilateral policies, safeguards, and agreements aimed at curtailing the cross-border flow of illegal money. In putting forward solutions, facilitating strategic partnerships, and conducting groundbreaking research, GFI is leading the way in efforts to curtail illicit financial flows and enhance global development and security. |
Multilateral organisations
| United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) UNODC Crime Programme |
| UNODC is the United Nations office responsible for crime prevention, criminal justice and criminal law reform. It works with Member States to strengthen the rule of law, promote stable and viable criminal justice systems and combat the growing threat of transnational organised crime and corruption through its Global Programme Against Corruption, the Crime and Justice Information Network, and several other programmes. On the UNODC web page, you will find a lot of information, downloadable research documents and an extensive and regularly updated Anti-Corruption Tool Kit. |
| UNODC Global Programme against Money-Laundering, Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism |
The Global Programme on Money Laundering (GPML) was established in 1997 in response to the mandate given to UNODC by the 1988 UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. GPML mandate was strengthened in 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) Political Declaration and Action Plan against Money Laundering which broadened its remit beyond drug offences to all serious crime. |
| United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) |
| One of UNDP's practice areas is democratic governance. In this era of increasing globalisation, public sector management and accountability have become critical elements in determining the over-all effectiveness, efficiency, and ability of governments to ensure economic competitiveness and growth, good governance and sustainable human development. The UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/51/59 adopted on 28 January, 1997, provides the basis for UNDP's mandate in assisting development countries to fight corruption. More information on issues like human rights, legislatures, decentralisation, public administration, local governance and civil society participation can be found on UNDP's democratic governance pages, and a few documents on corruption on their accountability, transparency and anti-corruption pages. |
| United Nations International Money Laundering Information Network (IMoLIN) |
IMoLIN is an Internet-based network assisting governments, organizations and individuals in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. IMoLIN has been developed with the cooperation of the world's leading anti-money laundering organizations. Included herein is a database on legislation and regulations throughout the world ( AMLID), an electronic library, and a calendar of events in the anti-money laundering / countering the financing of terrorism fields. |
| World Bank (WB) |
|
The World Bank Group is one of the world's largest sources of development assistance, and the web-site gives you information about IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA and ICSID (which are the organisations making up the World Bank Group). The Bank has identified corruption as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development, and combats it by preventing corruption in World Bank projects, by helping countries combat corruption, by mainstreaming anti-corruption, and by supporting international efforts to combat corruption. See the World Bank Anti-corruption Homepage. Workshops, training courses, etc. are conducted by the World Bank Institute (WBI), which also hosts an Anti-Corruption and Governance Library. Note that the Bank's web-pages are indeed comprehensive, but also rather bewildering. The various anti-corruption resources are poorly sorted and sparsely annotated, but extensively cross-linked, so you can easily be confused (the search-function is invaluable). Associated with the growing demand for quantifying the governance performance of countries, localities, and institutions, there has been a virtual explosion of datasets measuring quality of institutions, governance and corruption. The WB is hosting an Online Inventory of Governance Datasets and Indicators, a relatively comprehensive review of the available datasets on governance, aimed at facilitating access to a broad spectrum of such data. This inventory has information on over 140 datasets with online accessibility. An interactive research database on 175 countries and along six dimensions of governance - one of which is 'control of corruption' - is available at the composite World Bank Governance Research Indicators site. |
| World Bank + UNODC Star Initiative |
|
The Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) was launched jointly by the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on September 17, 2007. StAR’s objective is to reduce barriers to asset recovery and thereby encourage and facilitate more systematic and timely return of stolen assets. StAR emphasizes that developed and developing countries share a joint responsibility in tackling corruption and that international collaboration and collective action are needed to facilitate asset recovery and prevent asset theft. |
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |
|
The OECD groups 30 member countries sharing a commitment to democratic government and the market economy. With active relationships with some 70 other countries, NGOs and civil society, it has a global reach. Best known for its publications and its statistics, the OECD also plays a prominent role in fostering good governance in the public service and in corporate activity. The OECD takes a multidisciplinary approach in fighting corruption. It addresses the supply-side of bribery through the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention - one of the key legal instruments - and the Recommendations against Tax Deductibility of Bribes. Extensive monitoring reports documenting member countries' compliance with both instruments are available at the site. The organisation's Anti-corruption Division, which primarily oversees the implementation of the Anti-Bribery Convention, is also in charge of reaching out to non-member countries, and does so through a number of regional networks, such as the joint OECD/ADB Asia-Pacific Anti-corruption Initiative and the Anti-corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The OECD also hosts the secretariat of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF - see also below). The demand side of bribery is being addressed through the Recommendations on ethical conduct in the public service [PDF] and standards on managing conflict of interest in the public service [PDF].
|
|
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of national and international policies to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF is therefore a 'policy-making body' created in 1989 that works to generate the necessary political will to bring about legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas. The FATF has published 40 + 9 Recommendations in order to meet this objective. |
| Development Co-operation Directorate (DAC) |
|
The DAC is the principal body through which the OECD deals with issues related to co-operation with developing countries. Anti-corruption work in the area of governance and capacity development is carried out primarily through its Network on Governance (GOVNET), an international forum that brings together practitioners of development co-operation agencies, as well as experts from partner countries. GOVNET's work focuses on how to improve the effectiveness of support in a broad range of areas including: the fight against corruption, public sector reform, capacity development, human rights, democracy, the rule of law, assessing governance development, and difficult partnerships. DAC has contributed to debates on aid and corruption through its Draft Principles for Donor Action in Anti-Corruption [PDF] which will be finalised as a Policy-Oriented Paper on "Enhancing Donor Effectiveness in Fighting Corruption". |
| International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
| The title links you to the IMF home page, which explains and links you to IMF's many and extensive areas of operations. Readers interested in anti-corruption issues should go to the page The IMF's Approach to Promoting Good Governance and Combating Corruption - A Guide. Presented in a Q&A format, the answers to the question include links to a large number of online documents further detailing the IMF policies on good governance and anti-corruption. Of particular interest might be the answers to the question on the findings of the IMF's research on governance and corruption? The IMF has produced a number of key publications - mostly from economists' perspectives on corruption - in its IMF Staff Papers Journal, which can be accessed online. |
| INTERPOL Interpol Group of Experts on Corruption (IGEC) |
|
The Interpol Group of Experts on Corruption was established in 1998, mandated to develop and implement the International Criminal Police Organization's anti-corruption strategy. The primary objective is to improve law enforcement's ability and effectiveness in the fight against corruption, and to raise awareness of the major issues. The IGEC has developed a 'Global Standards to Combat Corruption in Police Forces/Services', a 'Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers' and a 'Code of Ethics for Law Enforcement Officers', plus a 'Library of Best Practice' (which is available as a hard copy version on a CD ROM and on the restricted access part of Interpol's web site). |
| The International Group for Anti-Corruption Coordination (IGAC) |
| The International Group for Anti-Corruption Coordination is dedicated to strengthening international anti-corruption coordination and collaboration. It provides a platform for exchange of views, information, experiences and best practice on anti-corruption activities. IGAC members include organisations active internationally in anti-corruption policy, advocacy and enforcement, including OECD, CoE, Interpol, Transparency International, UNDP, UNODC, the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, and others. Annual meetings have recently tackled issues such as curbing corruption in emergency relief and implementing the UN Convention against Corruption. |
| Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) |
|
Launched by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002, EITI aims to increase transparency in transactions between governments and companies within extractive industries (defined as oil, gas and mining). A country can participate in the EITI and implement its recommendations which target is to involve industry, government and civil society in the quest for transparency. Currently around twenty countries are implementing the EITI. Major donors are supporting the EITI: DFID, World Bank, Norway and the G8. More information on the EITI, contact Ben Mellor (of DFID), Head of the International EITI Secretariat or Tim Ayres (also DFID), Executive Secretary of the International Advisory Group for the EITI. |
| Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development |
|
The Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development is a global coalition of civil society organizations and more than 50 governments working together to advocate for curtailment of mispricing in trade imports and exports; country-by-country accounting of sales, profits, and taxes paid by multinational corporations; confirmation of beneficial ownership in all banking and securities accounts; automatic cross-border exchange of tax information; and harmonization of predicate offenses under anti-money laundering laws. |
Regional
| Organisation of American
States (OAS) OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs |
|
The OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs administers the inter-American treaties, resolutions and other legal matters within the OAS. The Legal Secretariat furthermore administers the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, and hosts some Anti-Corruption pages with information on the convention and the Inter-American Program of Cooperation to Fight Corruption. |
| Select Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures (MONEYVAL) |
|
Created in 1997, Moneyval is an evaluation and peer review mechanism primarily for Council of Europe member states dealing with members' anti-money laundering measures and measures to counter terrorist financing. It evaluates member states' performance against international standards - including those set by the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and the Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism - and issues recommendations on how to strengthen countries' existing regulatory and legal framework, and how to render it more efficient. Moneyval's reports are public; its site also provides links to resources on money laundering issues, research and policy papers. |
| European Union (EU) European Union policy against corruption |
|
The objective of the European Union policy against corruption is to establish a common European approach, encompassing various aspects like international trade and competition, EU expenditure abroad, EU resources, and development cooperation. All Member States criminalise corruption of their own civil servants, and the majority criminalises corruption of foreign or international officials (since most EU member states have also joined the OECD Anti-bribery Convention). In Community assistance and co-operation agreements with non-member countries, the Commission wishes to establish a coherent anti-corruption strategy aimed at supporting the introduction of appropriate legislation, the transparency of public procurement and the improvement of the socioeconomic environment. Special programs to prevent corruption on the ground exist that are aimed especially at eastern European countries wishing to join the EU (often implemented by the Council of Europe, and the OECD/EC SIGMA program). More information can be found on the EU web pages on fraud and OLAF- the European Anti-fraud Office. |
| Council of Europe (CoE) Council of Europe's anti-corruption activities |
| The Council of Europe seeks to develop common and democratic principles throughout Europe. In this regard it engages in fighting corruption via three interrelated elements: the setting of European norms and standards, monitoring of compliance with the standards, and capacity building offered to individual countries and regions through technical co-operation programmes. The CoE has developed a number of legal instruments dealing with matters such as the criminalisation of corruption in the public and private sector, liability and compensation for damage caused by corruption, conduct of public officials and the financing of political parties. These instruments are aimed at improving the capacity of States to fight corruption domestically as well as at international level. Two key regional anti-corruption agreements in this light are the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption .pdf and the Civil Law Convention on Corruption .pdf from 1999. For monitoring compliance with these standards the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) was established. |
| European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) |
|
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the single biggest investor in the transition economies in Eastern- and South-eastern Europe and Central Asia. It promotes economic growth and democracy through support to the private sector, and the Bank's interest in corruption is driven by trying to obtain evidence on how corruption affects private sector development. The EBRD, in a joint effort with the World Bank, has in recent years pioneered the research and design of meaningful indicators to measure the relation between corruption and growth, through its EBRD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS). |
| Stability Pact for South
Eastern Europe Stability Pact Anti-Corruption Initiative |
|
The Stability Pact Anti-Corruption Initiative (SPAI) is a product of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, adopted in 1999. The pact members, including the EU states, nine countries in the region and the international donor community, identified the struggle against corruption as a top priority. The SPAI was the response, and it started in February 2000. The SPAI claims a very ambitious agenda of legal, regulatory and institutional reforms, for the countries of South Eastern Europe. It aims to improve ethical standards in the public sector, to promote the rule of law and reliable public administrations, to curtail money laundering, and to clean up public procurement practices. |
| Asian Development Bank/
OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific |
|
The Initiative goes back to a workshop on Combating Corruption in the Asian and Pacific Economies organised in autumn 1999 by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). A year later, 36 member countries of the two organisations officially launched the ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia-Pacific. The countries appointed an expert group to draft an Anti-Corruption Action Plan, the Initiative's main instrument. The Initiative's Secretariat, composed of ADB and OECD, supports the countries' efforts to building up effective and sustainable anti-corruption mechanisms through fostering policy dialogue, policy analysis, capacity building and donor-coordination, and by providing an extensive online-database on the region's fight against corruption. |
| Asian Development Bank (Anti-Corruption Resources) |
|
The ADB's Anti-Corruption Unit is part of the Office of the Auditor General, and is responsible for handling all matters related to allegations of fraud and corruption among ADB-financed projects or its staff. On the ADB-website's pages on Anti-Corruption Resources you can find general information on the ADB's Anti-Corruption Policy, and related procedures, activities and initiatives. |
| Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) |
|
The APG comprises (in May 2003) 26 jurisdictions (countries), and states its purpose as to facilitate the adoption, implementation and enforcement of internationally accepted anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing standards. It works in co-ordination with the FATF. The APG assists jurisdictions in the region to enact laws criminalising the laundering of the proceeds of crime and dealing also with mutual legal assistance - and operates on a peer review basis. The AGP website is designed to serve as an important information resource for APG member and observer jurisdictions and organisations and anyone interested in international and regional anti-money laundering efforts. |
| International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) |
|
The International Chamber of Commerce has been key in addressing corruption among the business community since the mid-1990s, through trying to make the private sector's voice heard, for example, during the negotiations of the OECD Anti-bribery Convention (see above), and the UN Convention against Corruption. The ICC's main approach is that of self-regulation of businesses through strong company codes of ethics. It is also trying to raise awareness on dilemmas the private sector is facing, such as the exposure to extortion, and the specific problems corruption brings to the competitiveness of Small- and Medium-Size Enterprises (SME's). The ICC has elaborated a number of tools for the private sector to use, which can be found on the organisation's website. |
| US Chamber of Commerce Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) |
|
CIPE is an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and works to build democracy and market economies throughout the world. CIPE works in four principal areas: support to organisations in developing countries, communications strategy, training programs, and technical assistance through field offices. CIPE conducts their programs with funding from the National Endowment for Democracy and the United States Agency for International Development. In addition to its programs on corporate governance, women in business and the informal sector, there is a Combating Corruption Program webpage which contains news, speeches articles, CIPE programs around the world and a few links to external resources. |
| Transparent Agents and Contracting Agencies - TRACE International |
|
TRACE is an international organisation created to provide business intermediaries - sales agents, consultants, suppliers and subcontractors - with an opportunity to commit to an anti-corruption policy and to submit voluntarily to an independent due diligence review. It is an independent, non- partisan organisation that undertakes preliminary vetting of agents, consultants and subcontractors. Prior to membership in TRACE, candidates are subjected to an extensive due diligence review, including a lengthy questionnaire, three business references, a financial reference and a media search. Candidates also are required to have or adopt the Code of Conduct addressing bribes, kick-backs and conflicts of interest and agree to annual ethics training to be provided by TRACE or by approved lawyers in-country. |
| Business Anti-Corruption Portal |
|
This portal is designed to be a “one-stop-shop” for companies in their fight against corruption. The main features of the portal are as follows:
|
| Bank for International Settlements (BIS) |
|
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organisation which fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks. The BIS fulfils this mandate by acting as:
Established on 17 May 1930, the BIS is the world's oldest international financial organisation. As its customers are central banks and international organisations, the BIS does not accept deposits from, or provide financial services to, private individuals or corporate entities. |
| International Tax Compact |
|
The International Tax Compact (ITC) is a new initiative to strengthen international cooperation with developing and transition countries to fight tax evasion and avoidance. Launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the ITC aims at promoting tax systems that allow partner countries to be more effective in fighting tax evasion and inappropriate tax practices with the intention to achieve national and international development goals. |
| Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units |
|
In 1995 a group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) met at the Egmont Arenberg Palace in Brussels and decided to establish an informal group whose goal would be to facilitate international cooperation. Now known as the Egmont Group, these FIUs meet regularly to find ways to cooperate, especially in the areas of information exchange, training and the sharing of expertise. |
| The Wolfsberg Group |
|
The Wolfsberg Group is an association of eleven global banks, which aims to develop financial services industry standards, and related products, for Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorist Financing policies. The Group came together in 2000, at the Château Wolfsberg in north-eastern Switzerland. |
 |
Resources |
 |
Selected Literature |
|
Tool kits |
|
Conventions |
|
Corruption Glossary |
|
Organisations and Institutions |
|
Other Anti-Corruption websites |
|
FAQ's |
| MEASURING CORRUPTION |
 UNDP (2008)
Uses and Abuses of Governance Indicators This study (available for purchase from OECD) seeks to clarify current trends in the use and misuse of governance indicators as these indicators are applied to developing countries. It includes an in-depth analysis of the most carefully constructed and widely-used governance indicators, those produced by Daniel Kaufmann and his team at the World Bank Institute. The paper argues that composite perceptions-based indicators lack transparency and comparability over time, suffer from selection bias, and are not weel suited to help developing countries identify how effectively to improve the quality of local governance. Fact-based indicators are not necessarily more objective. The authors argue that governance indicators should be based on publicly-available data sets derived from facts, experiences and/or perceptions of diverse, clearly-defined population groups both within and outside the country in question This paper assesses corruption levels and trends among countries in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. One interesting finding was the lack of correlation between corruption in public procurement reported by firms and broader, perception-based indicators. In addition to an analysis of corruption measurement in the region, the author usefully includes a general "primer on corruption indicators" which outlines definitional and methodological differences between data sources. Composite indices are conceptually less precise than single sources. A major problems is that many give more weight to sources that correlate highly with each other. In the case of expert surveys, high correlation is a natural result of the fact that "experts" read the same analyses as well as each others' rankings. The author argues for broader use of firm, household and public official surveys to identify more specific corruption problems for programming purposes. |