by Transparency International sees the world as an increasingly less safe place and links the origin of the problem to the rise of corruption in its 2022 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released this Tuesday.
Data from this index, combined with data from the Global Peace Index, also organized by Transparency International, are intended to show that global peace is steadily declining and that there is a clear link between violence and corruption.
For the agency, the IPC figures released today demonstrate that corruption harms governments and hinders their ability to protect citizens, while fueling public discontent and causing an increase in violence.
The president of Transparency International, Delia Ferreira Rubio, argues that the solution to this problem involves governments working together to eliminate corruption at all levels of society, as well as to avoid discrimination.
“Governments have collectively failed to make progress against this situation, fueling increased violence and conflict and endangering people everywhere,” Rubio argues in the commentary for the 2023 edition of the IPC.
The index, launched in 1995, has become the main global benchmark for public sector corruption, 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 firms, think tanks and others.
The IPC ranks countries based on perceived levels of corruption in the public sector, on a scale from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
This year’s edition of the report reveals that the global average score remained unchanged in 43 countries and territories for the eleventh consecutive year, and more than two-thirds of countries face serious corruption problems, with scores below 50.
THE Denmark leads 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.
Instead, and heading the list of the most corrupt countries in the worldSouth Sudan (13 points), Syria (12 points) and Somalia (12 points) appear, all embroiled in protracted armed conflicts.
Eight countries improved their scores over the same period, including Ireland, South Korea and the Maldives, with evidence suggesting that the fight against corruption is effective with the right and balanced measures in place, according to Transparency International.
This year, 26 countries, including Qatar, Guatemala and the United Kingdom, scored historic lows on the Index.
The UK (73 points) fell five points to its lowest ever score after being embroiled in a series of political scandals, including revelations of ministerial misconduct.
Regarding Portugal (62 points), Transparency International considers that the fact that the “new anti-corruption strategy” was launched without significant 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 behind the IPC, as in the case of Hungary and Poland.
Transparency International believes that the relationship between violence and corruption is a vicious cycle, arguing that corrupt governments lack the capacity to protect citizens and that public discontent is more likely to escalate into violence.
For Transparency International, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine serves as a reminder of the dangers of corruption and a lack of government accountability, recalling that Russian kleptocrats amassed vast fortunes in the service of President Vladimir Putin, which led to lucrative state contracts , to protect its financial 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 to divert aid that intended for food, fuel and medicine.
Also, the combination of corruption, authoritarianism and economic crisis in Brazil proved to be a volatile mix, with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s tenure marked by the dismantling of anti-corruption structures and the use of corrupt methods to favor political allies, he concluded. Transparency. International.
