Connecting the Dots: Exposing the Links Between Corruption and Crime
Our world confronts numerous challenges, tragedies, inequalities and injustices, many of which are tied to corruption.
Whether in drug trafficking, crimes that affect the environment, cyber-enabled fraud or terrorist financing, corruption enables criminal groups to move people, goods and money across borders at scale, and evade detection and justice.
Corrupt financial systems and money laundering networks help to conceal, launder and reinvest criminal proceeds, allowing criminals to profit from their illicit activities.
2026-2027 Campaign
The International Anti-Corruption Day 2026–2027 campaign calls on governments and partners to stand #UnitedAgainstCorruption by connecting the dots between corruption and the crimes it enables and to follow the money to deliver justice.
The campaign highlights the need to strengthen financial integrity and accountability, enhance international cooperation and equip governments with the tools and knowledge to prevent corruption, trace illicit financial flows and reduce the opportunities that criminal networks exploit. Addressing corruption is one of the most effective ways to disrupt organized crime, protect public resources, reinforce the rule of law and support peace, security and sustainable development.
Connecting the dots between corruption and the crimes enables governments intervene earlier, expose criminal networks, close regulatory gaps and reduce the wider impacts of organized crime on security, governance and development.
Background
Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability.
Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires, whose only reason for existing is the soliciting of bribes. Economic development is stunted, because foreign direct investment is discouraged and small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the "start-up costs" required, because of corruption.
On 31 October 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption and requested that the Secretary-General designate the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as the secretariat for the Convention’s Conference of States Parties (resolution 58/4). Since then, 190 parties have committed to the Convention’s anti-corruption obligations, showing near-universal recognition of the importance of good governance, accountability, and political commitment.
The Assembly also designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it. The Convention entered into force in December 2005.
At its twentieth anniversary and beyond, this Convention and the values it promotes are more important than ever, which requires everyone to join efforts to tackle this crime. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the Secretariat for the Convention's Conference of the States Parties, are at the forefront of ensuring a world #UnitedAgainstCorruption.
Events in 2027
Twelfth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (#COSP12) will be held in December 2027 in Uzbekistan.
Resources
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
- UNODC Anti-Corruption Campaign
- UNODC and Corruption
- Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption
- Thematic Programme on Action against Corruption, Economic Fraud and Identity-related Crime
Other UN Offices and Agencies
- Ethics Office
- Global Compact - Transparency and Anti-corruption
- Office of Internal Oversight Services
- Reform at the UN
- Economic Commission for Africa - Promoting and Monitoring Good Governance
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Good Governance
- United Nations Development Programme
World Bank Group
- Anti-corruption
- Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT)
- Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) - World Bank/UNODC
