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Integrity
The Monitor's View

A global reach for clean governance

Each summit of the world’s 20 leading economies tries to set higher standards on integrity to curb corruption.

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A motorcyclist drives past a poster of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming delegates ahead of this week’s summit of the Group of 20 nations in New Delhi, India, Sept. 4.
  • By the Monitor's Editorial Board

In an opinion survey this year in 12 leading economies, people from Italy to China said they were more concerned about corruption than climate change. Such a popular expectation of integrity in governance helps explain why this week’s summit of the 20 biggest economies, known as the Group of 20, includes a renewed focus on lifting standards on accountability and transparency – which range from whistleblower protection to anti-bribery enforcement.

Together, the G20 countries can set an example for the rest of the world because they account for 80% of the global economy – and more than 90% of foreign bribery convictions. This year’s summit host, India, has won some consensus among the group on how to cooperate better on asset recovery, or the winning back of stolen money sent abroad by corrupt players.

One recent example of asset recovery includes the United States’ repatriating $332 million linked to the former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators. Britain is considering a measure to give law enforcement new powers to seize digital assets, which are often used to transfer ill-gotten gains. Such progress builds on the G20’s work over nearly a decade of summits to use the group as a vehicle for improving clean governance everywhere.

“Corruption is a crime that crosses borders,” according to the Accountability Lab, an anti-corruption activist group. “That is why international cooperation and collaboration are essential and have been a key area of focus for the G20 for many years.”

One helpmate for the G20 on fighting corruption is a Paris-based group of 38 developed countries called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 1999, the OECD approved the Anti-Bribery Convention, the first binding international instrument to focus exclusively on bribery in business transactions. The work against corruption, says former OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría, makes economies more productive, governments more efficient, and institutions more trusted.

“In short,” he said, “integrity delivers better lives.”

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