Research Report
XVII. Model United Nations of Lübeck
Forum:
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Issue:
Addressing corruption and its effect on development
Ex-President: Vice President:
Louise Lindberg (Malmö, SE) Shubhavi Arya (Singapore)
Contact:
ecosoc@munol.org
2014
Introduction Corruption is a significant root and outcome of poverty all over the globe. Corruption affects all levels of the national and international community, from local and national governments, judiciary functions, civil society, local businesses, national and international corporations and other services. Corruption has the biggest effects on the poorest, in both rich and poor nations, though all parts of the society are affected since corruption weakens democracy, political and economic development. The World Bank defines corruption as “the abuse of public office for private gain”. Corruption is a reflection of the degree of transparency and accountability in public affairs and aid to developing countries can under certain circumstances lead to corruption. It tends to be more important in nations where the legal system, mass media, and the general system of public administration are deficient, and thus corruption can often be associated with regions of lower economic growth and poorer development prospects. It is observed that countries experiencing corruption are unable to implement reliable redistribution policies. Therefore, mentioned nations are not assumed to benefit from most sustainable economic development despite undertaking economic growth. The most prevalent forms of modern corruption at different social levels include bribery, construction kickbacks, procurement fraud, extortion, false certification, nepotism, and embezzlement. Corruption can also weaken sustainable development as government officials may accept bribes to bypass environmental regulations.
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Corruption Perceptions Index 2013
The problem of corruption is quite inter-related with many other economic and political problems of a country. Corruption prevents nations from addressing their most serious development issues because instead of giving attention to critical challenges such as education, leaders, professionals, academicians and healthcare systems, the government is compelled to spend valuable time dealing with problems that arise due to corruption. Corruption affects a substantial part of the quality of life in many different ways. For example: page 2 of 6
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1. Breakdown of the fuel distribution system 2. Telephone network decaying 3. Electrical grid failing 4. High Unemployment All of these problems can be ascribed to the hands of a corrupt government.
Key terms and Definitions Transparency International is an organization dedicated to the dual purpose of increasing government accountability and curbing both international and national corruption. Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture Anti-Corruption: Designed to eradicate or prevent dishonest or fraudulent conduct, especially in a political context: ‘an anti-corruption campaign’
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Sustainable Development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Trade: the action of buying and selling goods and services. Scandal: an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. The Corruption Perceptions Index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in countries worldwide, scoring them from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
IMF And World Bank Policies That Encourage Corruption Institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund often lay down the policies that create the foundation of globalization. The IMF and World Bank have been given sharp evaluation for increasing poverty through programs and schemes such as structural adjustment, quick deregulation and opening obstacles to trade before developing countries are ready to trade. This has also contributed in creating favorable circumstances for corruption to widespread more.
Examples USA The first example is the US government, accused of outsourcing many contracts without an open bid process.1 An analysis by the Times found that more than half of their outsourcing contracts are not open to competition. Prior to George Bush, only 21% of federal contracts were awarded on a no-bid basis. Italy Italy’s former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi2 and some of his close associates were held on trial for various crimes and corruption cases. Many key teams in the massive Italian soccer league, Series A were also found to be involved in a massive corruption ring. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, the arms manufacturer, BAE, was being investigated for bribing Saudi officials to buy fighter planes, but the government intervened in the investigation citing national interests.3 The Guardian also reported that BAE gave a Saudi prince a £75 million airliner ($125 million approximately) as part of a British arms deal, with the arms firm paying
1
http://www.alternet.org/story/54623/the_bushites_have_outsourced_our_government_to_their_pals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi 3 http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/dec/15/saudiarabia.armstrade 2
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the expenses of flying it.4 This seemingly large figure is small compared to the overall deal, and it is easy to see how corruption is so possible when large sums are involved.
International Institutions a) World Bank At the World Bank, headlines were made when its recent president, Paul Wolfowitz, was forced to resign after it was revealed he had moved his girlfriend to a new government post with an extremely high salary without review by its ethics committee. b) United Nations The recent example with the UN has been the oil for food scandal, where the headlines were about the corruption in the UN. In reality, the figures of about $21 billion of illicit funds blamed on the UN were exaggerations; it was $2 billion; it was the UN Security Council (primarily US and UK) responsible for much of the monitoring. (This is discussed in more detail on this site’s Iraq sanctions, oil for food scandal section.5)
Tackling Corruption Evidently, corruption is an issue that cannot be pushed aside if we want to see the progress of developing countries to continue into the next century. What has already been done? Many organizations have been established to tackle the problems of developing nations and most of these institutions specifically work towards taking ‘Anti-Corruption’ measures. In addition, there are organizations that have been created to specially address and combat corruption such as the Transparency International. The World Bank’s Anti- Corruption Thematic group concentrates on activities that address the four levels of helping countries to deal with corruption. These levels are: 1. Preventing Corruption in Bank Programs and Projects 2. Responding to client governments that request help 3. Creating a mainstream concern for corruption on an ongoing basis 4. Supporting International initiatives to control corruption Corporate Watch is another group that functions on the other side of the issue – fighting against those corporations that support the corrupt officials in the less developed nations. Corporate Watch targets on encouraging democratic control over corporations and works towards guaranteeing respect of human rights and environmental justice in the less developed 4 5
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/15/bae http://www.globalissues.org/article/105/effects-of-sanctions
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and developing nations. Therefore, the final and possibly the most important question to address is: What further measures can be taken in order to deal with this problem? Corruption is a complex process, which has long reaching effects in all communities. It is hard to ignore the impacts of corruption - especially in developing nations where the activity has increasingly adverse effects. Efforts should continue to advance further in an attempt to change this condition of the world.
Useful links 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
http://www.transparency.org/ http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/b-58.html http://www.unglobalcompact.org/docs/issues_doc/7.7/BACbookFINAL.pdf http://transparency.ie/ http://www.oecd.org/ http://www.sipo.gov.ie/en/ www.mfat.govt.nz
Endnotes 1. "Corruption." - Global Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/590/corruption>.
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