The Transparency International association considers that the world is an increasingly less safe place and links the origin of the problem to the increase in corruption, in the 2023 edition of the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released this Tuesday.
Data from this index, along with data from the Global Peace Index, also organized by Transparency International, are intended to demonstrate that world peace is steadily declining and that there is a clear connection between violence and corruption.
For the organization, the CPI values released this Tuesday show that corruption is harming governments and hampering their ability to protect citizens, while fueling public discontent and causing an increase in violence.
The president of Transparency International, Delia Ferreira Rubio, maintains that the solution to this problem involves governments working together to eradicate corruption at all levels of society, as well as to avoid discrimination.
“Governments collectively have failed to make headway against this situation, fueling further violence and conflict and endangering people everywhere,” Rubio argues in commentary to the 2023 edition of the CPI.
The Index, launched in 1995, has become the leading global benchmark for corruption in the public sector, assessing 180 countries and territories based on their levels of corruption, using data from 13 different sources, including the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, private risk assessment. companies, think tanks and others.
The CPI ranks countries based on perceived levels of corruption in the public sector, on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
This year’s edition of the report reveals that the global average score has remained unchanged in 43 countries and territories for the 11th consecutive year, and more than two-thirds of countries have serious corruption problems, with scores below 50.
Denmark tops the list of least corrupt countries with 90 points, followed by Finland and New Zealand, both with 87 points.
These countries have strong democratic institutions and high respect for human rights, which also makes them the most peaceful countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.
On the contrary, and leading the list of the most corrupt countries in the world, are South Sudan (13 points), Syria (12 points) and Somalia (12 points), all of them involved in prolonged armed conflicts.
Eight countries improved their scores during the same period, including Ireland, South Korea and the Maldives, with data suggesting that the fight against corruption is effective with the application of correct and balanced measures, according to Transparency International.
This year, 26 countries, including Qatar, Guatemala and the United Kingdom, reached record lows in the Index.
The UK (73 points) fell five points to its lowest score after being embroiled in a series of political scandals, including revelations about ministerial misconduct.
Regarding Portugal (62 points), Transparency International considers that the fact that the “new anti-corruption strategy” was launched without major guidelines and the Golden Visa program was maintained increased the risks of corruption.
For Transparency International, the report also shows that European Union countries that neglected or reversed anti-corruption measures continued to fall in the CPI, as was the case with Hungary and Poland.
Transparency International believes that the relationship between violence and corruption is a vicious cycle, arguing that corrupt governments lack the ability to protect citizens and that public discontent is more likely to turn into violence.
For Transparency International, the Russian invasion of Ukraine serves as a reminder of the dangers posed by corruption and lack of government accountability, recalling that Russian kleptocrats amassed vast fortunes in the service of President Vladimir Putin, which resulted in lucrative state contracts. , in the protection of their economic interests.
Another example is that of South Sudan, where decades of conflict and corruption have led to a deep humanitarian crisis, with more than half the population facing food insecurity, knowing that a recent report revealed a fraud scheme by a network of corrupt politicians who diverted aid for food, fuel and medicine.
The combination of corruption, authoritarianism and economic crisis in Brazil also proved to be a volatile mix, leading the tenure of former President Jair Bolsonaro to be marked by the dismantling of anti-corruption structures and the use of corrupt schemes to favor political allies, concluded Transparency International. .
Source: TSF
