The World Is Melting Down and the Cause is Corruption- The G20 Needs to Take Action — Global Issues
WASHINGTON DC, July 1 (IPS) – The G20 will meet again next week in Indonesia for the second time this year – at a time when the world is facing its toughest economic, political and social challenges. for many decades.
At their core, these problems are fueled by corruption – from Russia’s compound “weaponization” in Ukraine arrive lack of regulation on factors that promote corruption in G20 countries like the UK. This disadvantage comes at the expense of lives and livelihoods- and is directly responsible for everything from power outage arrive lack of food and fuel.
The G20 is making important decisions about how governments can collectively manage what is now seen as a significant transnational threat to peace and prosperity. But despite the serious anti-corruption commitments that G20 countries make every year, compliance and implementation of these commitments is a challenge.
Civil society must speak up on these issues now, before it’s too late. The Civil-20 (C20)– of which we are Co-Chairs – join the G20 on behalf of civil society. Over the past several months, we have compiled comments from civil society around the world regarding five central corruption challenges that the G20 must act on immediately: Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and asset recovery; beneficial ownership transparency; fighting corruption in the energy transition; open a contract; and transparency and integrity of corporations.
This is what C20 members are telling G20 they need to do now. First, effective anti-money laundering efforts are key to detecting illicit financial flows from corrupt activities in countries like Russia.
The G20 needs to strengthen regulators across its membership and expand sanctions for violations of AML requirements, particularly for large financial institutions and so-called Enterprises. and Designated Non-Financial Occupations (DNFBPs) that facilitate illicit financial flows (such as lawyers or accountants).
Similarly, when content is returned, they need to be adjusted to GFAR . Principleincluding through the involvement of civil society and community groups to support the transparency of the process.
Second, the G20 has committed to leading by example of transparent beneficial ownership (actual ownership of companies) and has the opportunity to reinforce this commitment by strengthening G20 high-level principles on transparency of beneficial ownership aligned with improved global standards, including those recommended by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
One challenge is data integration, and so should G20 member countries Beneficial property data standards for easier data sharing and analysis – this will greatly improve citizens’ ability to understand who the owners of companies may be involved in corruption.
Third, there is a lot of corruption as the world transitions to clean energy, but corruption risks in the renewable energy sector are not unique – they follow many of the same patterns we have seen in the United States. infrastructure and foreign industries, For example. As more and more countries transition to renewable energy, it is important to prioritize resource management in ways that are consistent with existing agreements. high level principles and best pratice.
The G20 must regulate lobbying activities around clean energy – including through lobbying registries; enforce a robust and credible sanctions regime, including a public database of companies barred from bidding; and support civil society to independently monitor large-scale energy projects through integrity treaties and other similar means that help ensure transparent procurement.
Fourth, government contracts are rife with collusion, tyranny, and graft. The G20 must open up contracting processes and strengthen open data infrastructure by sharing information across the entire procurement cycle for projects – from planning to signing to awarding and do.
Governments must also publish machine-readable high-quality open data so that it can be used across multiple systems. This doesn’t mean starting from scratch – there are standards for this, like Open Contract Data Standard (OCDS) and Open contract for infrastructure data standard (OC4IDS). It’s a question of commitment.
Finally, not all G20 member countries participate OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and private sector bribery is not criminalized in all G20 member countries under Terms of UNCAC. This means that companies can legally offer bribes to win contracts and this must be outlawed immediately.
The European Union directive on corporate due diligence include requirements that the G20 should adopt immediately, such as to identify actual or potential adverse human rights impacts of corruption; to prevent or minimize the potential effects of bribery; and improve public communication around due diligence processes.
G20 members should also provide for “revolving doors” through which government and business can engage in favoritism; and invest in better partnerships between entities working on these issues such as regulators, law enforcement and civil society.
All this may sound quite technical – but the negative impact of corruption is not felt in government boardrooms, but in people’s daily lives. The G20 has long made excuses for the lack of action on the topic, and we are now seeing the devastating effects. Unless action is taken now, it will be too late.
These ideas were gathered through a consultation process as part of the C20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG), and represent the input of many civil society organisations.
Blair Glencorse is the Executive Director of the Accountability Laboratory and Co-Chair of the C20 ACWG.
Sanjeeta Pant is the Director of Global Learning and Programs at the Lab. Follow The Lab on Twitter @accountlab.
© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
