Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), I am pleased to welcome you to the side event on “Building Transparent, Accountable and Inclusive Institutions” in the context of the Special Session of the General Assembly Against Corruption 2021.
I extend my thanks to our partners - the Secretariat of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, as well as the Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe - for the excellent collaboration to make this virtual side event possible.
It is critical that we work together to tackle the challenges posed by corruption. Indeed, corruption has a direct negative impact on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It impedes progress on social, economic and environmental targets.
Allow me to highlight a few examples:
- On the social dimension, the inability to pay bribes often leaves children without a quality education, and pregnant women without proper medical care.
- On the economic dimension, corruption distorts competition – for example through unfair public procurement processes – and negatively affects businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises.
- On the environmental dimension, the high value of illegally obtained natural resources, like wildlife or timber, makes such criminal exploitations highly profitable – at the expense of the environment, biodiversity and livelihoods of local communities.
Corruption and its ill effects drive people apart. But we have to stand together more than ever, to meet our common challenges.
Corruption erodes public trust and is even more damaging in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It creates a climate of distrust, where people withdraw from participatory processes. They become alienated from norms and rules that are crucial for cohesive and peaceful societies.
Sustainable Development Goal 16 explicitly calls for building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. SDG 16 is not just a stand-alone goal. It is crucial for achieving all the SDGs, and the 2030 Agenda’s key principle of Leaving No One Behind.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The topics discussed during this Special Session are timely. UN DESA welcomes the intent to adopt a concise and action-oriented political declaration, agreed upon in advance by consensus through intergovernmental negotiations under the auspices of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
UN DESA fully supports the shared principles and directions for action laid down in the position paper – “The UN common position to address global corruption. Towards UNGASS 2021”. UN DESA contributed to the paper as part of the UN anti-corruption task force.
We stand ready to provide coordinated and tailor-made support to Member States, to strengthen their knowledge on the dynamics and risk factors related to corruption.
The Principles of Effective Governance were endorsed by the UN Economic and Social Council in 2018. They provide practical, expert guidance to develop capacities for strong institutions for the SDGs.
UN DESA’s new Curriculum on Governance for the SDGs, provides practical training material for such capacity development in virtual, and in-person settings. Furthermore, our work on strengthening the role of supreme audit institutions in SDG implementation, is essential for accountability. It aims at supporting Member States in aligning institutions with the SDGs.
Before I conclude, I would like to share the results of a recent survey conducted in commemoration of the United Nations 75th Anniversary. Two out of three respondents – 68 percent – stated that they do not believe there will be much improvement in anticorruption in the next 25 years.
This paints a bleak picture of the future, unless governments and all other stakeholders work together and take effective action to combat, and prevent corruption.
I am confident that this UN General Assembly Special Session will serve as inspiration for action. Let us, together, work towards a better future for all. Our Side Event can be a small part of this large endeavor.
I wish you a successful side event.
Thank you.