31 May - 6 June 2001
Issue No.536
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 31 May - 6 June 2001 Issue No.536 |
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Catching up with corruption
Khaled Dawoud reports from The Hague as senior anti-corruption officials from all over the world gathered to discuss means of combating corruption
There are many issues at stake at the Second Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity, which opened in The Hague on Monday. The international gathering could well turn out to be another "talk shop" convention, where bitter accusations are exchanged between the rich "North" and the poor "South."
It was hoped the four-day meeting, attended by senior officials involved in combating corruption in more than 100 countries, would result in the draft of a final declaration containing a number of ideas related to a future United Nations legal instrument against corruption. The proposed UN convention would also detail measures to monitor the effectiveness of national anti-corruption strategies, and to best put them into practice.
The first Global Forum on Fighting Corruption, initiated by former United States Vice-President Al Gore two years ago, was held in Washington. At that time, world delegates concentrated on integrity among justice and security officials. They ended with a non-binding agreement on 12 guiding principles on fighting corruption.
The day after the official opening in the Hague of the second forum, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in fighting corruption at a grassroots level started issuing statements expressing dissatisfaction with the way the show was being run. NGOs and journalists are not allowed to attend any of the five workshops where the senior government officials are discussing specific issues related to corruption. Those include integrity and governance; law enforcement; customs; corruption, transition and development; and government and the business sector. According to one official at the Dutch Ministry of Justice, the main sponsor of the forum, this decision was taken upon the request of several participating countries. "[Their] officials said they would not feel comfortable in discussing issues related to corruption in open sessions attended by the media."
A parallel programme for journalists on the media's role in fighting corruption, organised by the Dutch government, failed to satisfy their urge to listen to the speeches of representatives of some of the world's most corrupt governments, and to hear how they defended their shameful record.
Transparency International (TI), one of the leading international NGOs in issuing surveys and studies measuring corruption worldwide, challenged the world's anti-corruption officials to take some serious steps, particularly "cooperation to return to the countries of origin the monies that corrupt leaders have looted from their treasuries." TI also asked the government representatives to "put in place systems of mutual legal cooperation and enforcement that will ensure that there is no hiding place for the proceeds of corruption, and that there is no country where the corrupt can enjoy the profits of their crime without fear of extradition and punishment."
The South African Parliament Speaker, Frene Ginwala, pointed in her opening remarks to the massive contradiction between anti-corruption strategies set by developed, donor countries in the North and their practice on the ground in the poor South. Quoting a recent study released by TI on countries most known to pay bribes in order to gain business deals in 14 emerging national markets, China topped the list, followed by South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Malaysia, Japan and France. Meanwhile, 69 per cent of nearly 800 businessmen interviewed in the 14 countries believed that governments acted to obtain unfair business advantage for their companies. The same report pointed out, however, that paying bribes was not the only way to gain business deals. Using diplomatic or political pressure, commercial pressure, tied aid, favours and gifts, tied defence or arms deals and tied scholarships, educational or health care programmes could be even more effective. In this respect, the US topped the list with 61 per cent, followed by France and Japan.
US President George Bush addressed the forum through a short statement read out by the US ambassador to the Netherlands, vowing that "increasing accountability and transparency in governance around the world is an important foreign policy objective for my administration."
Ginwala also pointed out that countries in the North had shown little willingness to cooperate on the vital issue of returning funds gained as a result of corruption by dictator rulers. "While issues such as banking and attorney-client privilege should be respected, they should not become excuses for our failure to take action on money laundering and corruption," she said.
The speeches given at the opening session, meanwhile, failed to go beyond the already well-known cliché that "corruption is a worldwide phenomenon" and that it required international effort to combat it. "I do believe that the promotion of integrity and the fight against corruption is indeed a worldwide challenge," said the Netherlands minister of justice, Benk Korthals, in his opening speech on Monday. He also warned: "Giving way to corruption means that the most vulnerable in the society will suffer."
Gerrit Ybema, the Dutch minister for foreign trade, pointed out that cross-border corruption represented an enormous loss-making item for entrepreneurs around the world. "It is estimated the loss for European business community alone sums up to almost 80 billion dollars," he said.
"Corruption drains away the benefits of globalisation," warned Dutch Minister for Development and Cooperation Eveline Herfkens. "We are all finally beginning to see corruption for what it is: a crime; an evil with a high human and economic price.
"Corruption exacerbates income disparities, thwarts development, saps the poorest, most vulnerable and disenfranchised, provokes human rights violations, forces movements of people within and outside of national borders as well as human trafficking."
Adding to suspicions by TI that the forum would degenerate into just another "talking shop," delegates said they doubted that they would be able to reach consensus on the issue of a legally-binding UN convention aimed at combating corruption. The head of Egypt's delegation, Maj. Gen. Hitler Tantawi, director of the Administrative Control Authority (ACA), told Al-Ahram Weekly that he suspected the gathering would not be able to reach an agreement on the proposed UN convention. "I did not feel that there has been serious effort so far in order to reach this goal," Tantawi said. "Maybe the issue will be postponed till the next forum, due to be held in Korea in 2003."
And why not? According to one of the Dutch organisers, many delegates had failed to show up at workshops on the second day of the meeting on Tuesday. "Many officials and delegates said they preferred to spend their day touring Amsterdam and its museums rather than taking part in the workshops," he said.
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