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Welcome to the sixth issue of the quarterly newsletter from
Integrity Initiatives International (III, pronounced "triple I") concerning global efforts to strengthen the enforcement of criminal laws to punish and deter corrupt leaders and end impunity for grand corruption.
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At the end of 2022, there were several promising developments on the international stage for anti-corruption, including for the growing international campaign for the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court. 2023 has kicked off with more progress. Nigeria has now joined Canada, Ecuador, and the Netherlands in supporting the creation of an IACC. Read more here.
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The next stop for III is the Munich Security Conference on February 17, where we will host a discussion about the IACC. III Chair Judge Mark Wolf will be joined on the stage by Russian democracy activist Garry Kasparov, who is a signatory to the Declaration calling for the creation of the IACC and Founder and Chair of Renew Democracy Initiative, among other things. Nearly 300 world leaders from more than 80 countries have now signed the Declaration, including Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza from the confines of his unjust imprisonment in Russia.
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III Chair Judge Mark Wolf is pictured left with Vladimir's wife Evgenia Kara-Murza at the Magnitsky Awards Dinner in November. Evgenia has taken up Vladimir's mantle advocating for political prisoners and for a free and democratic Russia. Click here to watch a screening of Vladimir's latest documentary My Duty to Not Stay Silent and discussion hosted by the Reagan Institute and the National Endowment for Democracy on February 1 in Washington, D.C.
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Unfortunately, the end of 2022 also saw the rollback of some progress on anti-corruption, including a ruling in November from the European Union (EU) Court of Justice that reduces transparency and makes it easier to hide the flow of dirty money. Then, in December, the Qatargate scandal broke around accusations that a Vice President of the European Parliament accepted bribes from Qatar and Morocco in exchange for votes on parliamentary resolutions. The full extent of the scandal continues to unspool as more current and former Members of the European Parliament and their staff are implicated.
III was originally scheduled to participate in a workshop on the IACC in January organized by the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, which included the IACC in its 2022 Corruption and Human Rights Recommendation. The turmoil created by Qatargate led to the workshop being postponed until March. The scandal highlights the urgent need for anti-corruption reform in the EU. III and our partners will use the opportunity in Brussels to advance the IACC and other anti-corruption initiatives. |
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Other events at the end of 2022 indicate that there is growing political will from many countries to find innovative ways to hold kleptocrats accountable. In November, Canada, Ecuador, and the Netherlands convened a High-Level Roundtable on Anti-Corruption in The Hague. 7 of the 14 countries present at the ministerial session expressed support for the creation of an IACC.
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More than 40 states attended the non-ministerial session and a mixed session with intergovernmental organizations and civil society, where many ideas for addressing gaps in the international framework for combating corruption were discussed.
In December 2022, thousands of anti-corruption experts and activists gathered at the International Anti-Corruption Conference hosted by Transparency International (TI) and the U.S. State Department. Dozens of governments sent delegations to interact with civil society and build will towards a range of important anti-corruption innovations. You can read TI Chair Delia Ferreira Rubio's interview about the conference here, including discussion of the IACC.
III Chair Judge Mark Wolf and Vice Chair Judge Claudia Escobar spoke about the IACC on a panel at the conference. There was passionate support for the idea during the Q&A after the panel from citizens of Cote d'Ivoire, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Pakistan who viscerally understand the devastating consequences of grand corruption. Judge Escobar also discussed the IACC idea in a plenary session of the conference, III Board Member José Ugaz spoke about the Court on a panel on grand corruption and state capture, and, while moderating another panel, Amb. Norman Eisen described the IACC as an important idea that would complement the development of national institutions.
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At the TI conference: III Vice Chair Judge Claudia Escobar speaking on the plenary stage (left) and Amb. Norman Eisen and III Chair Judge Mark Wolf (right)
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The week of the conference, Amb. André Haspels hosted an briefing on the IACC and the campaign to create it at the Dutch Embassy in Washington, D.C. for ambassadors and embassy staff from two dozen countries and representatives of more than fifty civil society organizations.
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The attendees were overwhelmingly supportive of the IACC idea. Left to right in the photo, III Vice Chair Judge Claudia Escobar of Guatemala, III Chair Judge Mark Wolf of the United States, III Vice Chair Justice Richard Goldstone of South Africa, and III's close partner and Chair of HEDA Resource Centre Lanre Suraju of Nigeria gave remarks on the Court.
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Gerard Steeghs, Director for Multilateral Organizations and Human Rights at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also spoke about the Dutch government's commitment to work towards the creation of the IACC and the path forward.
In The Hague and Washington, D.C., III began positive dialogues with officials from more than a dozen states about the IACC. In 2023, III will continue to advance support for the IACC idea among interested states and work with its civil society partners to strengthen the campaign for the Court. III has also formed several committees of leading international law and corruption experts to draft a proposed treaty for the establishment of the IACC.
We are deeply grateful to our many new and existing partners working to develop a range of more effective transparency and accountability tools to combat corruption. Powerful vested interests will always fight to prevent accountability, but they can and will be countered by the vibrant anti-corruption community dedicated to promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. Continue reading for more about III's activities in late 2022 and early 2023.
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Following a necessary pause in our activities in Ukraine due to Russia's illegal invasion, III will be engaging again in anticorruption activities there in 2023. Effectively combatting corruption is critical to maintaining the international community's trust in Ukraine and to ensuring its recovery from the war. Ukraine has proven its willingness in recent weeks to investigate accusations of corruption against high-level officials.
In September, III will host a delegation of judges from Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) in Boston. III has been involved in successfully recommending international experts to serve on judicial selection committees in Ukraine and in mentoring HACC judges, both in person in Kyiv and virtually during the pandemic. Read more on the III website.
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III's partner Iegor Soboliev, who was a driving force behind the creation of the HACC when he was chair of the anti-corruption committee in the Ukrainian Parliament, and his wife Marichka Padalko, a leading Ukrainian news host, are scheduled to be featured on ABC's Nightline program on February 24. They are pictured right with their family and Judge Wolf.
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Soboliev has fought in Kyiv, Bucha, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhia and now serves in the Ukrainian special forces. Padalko will run the Boston Marathon in April to raise money for an organization that supports Ukraine.
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Just Peace Month Webinar on the IACC
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In October, Just Peace Month, a month-long program in The Hague featuring public events related to peace and justice topics, held a discussion with key leaders of the campaign to create the IACC including:
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- Maja Groff - Co-Chair of the International Coordinating Committee for the IACC campaign
- Slagjana Taseva - Chair of Transparency International Macedonia
- Wim Jansen - Director of International Affairs at the Municipality of the Hague
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Policy Lab: Protecting Democracies from Corruption
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In November, III's partner in the effort to create an IACC, Club de Madrid (CdM) hosted a policy lab on Protecting Democracies from Corruption at the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, Spain. The CdM is composed of more than 120 former presidents and prime ministers.
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Former President of Slovenia and current President of CdM Danilo Türk (on the screen) opened the policy lab, stating that he and dozens of his fellow former heads of state and government strongly support the IACC idea.
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CdM continues to engage Spanish society in a discussion about the creation of an IACC, which could help safeguard democracies around the world. Additional speakers at the policy lab who support the IACC included:
- Hanna Suchocka, Prime Minister of Poland (1992-1993) and Member of Club de Madrid
- Judge Mark Wolf, Chair of Integrity Initiatives International
- Javier Cremades, lawyer and President of the World Jurist Association
- Augusto López-Claros, Executive Director of the Global Governance Forum and Co-Chair of the International Coordinating Committee for the IACC campaign
- Magistrate Joaquín Elías Gadea Francés, National Court, Juzgado Central de Instrucción número 6 de la Audiencia Nacional
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Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commissioner Francis Ben Kaifala (right), a signatory of the Declaration calling for the creation of the IACC, asked a question at the event.
You can watch the full policy lab here.
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UNCAC Coalition Special Event on the IACC
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In November, UNCAC Coalition’s Grand Corruption and State Capture working group hosted a discussion on the IACC moderated by Gillian Dell (Transparency International) and Cynthia Gabriel (C4). Over 60 members of the Coalition's network attend the event.
Three legal experts from III's committee working on developing a draft treaty to establish the IACC shared their vision for the Court:
- III Vice Chair Justice Richard Goldstone, a former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
- Justice Maria Wilson, Justice of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago
- Ambassador Allan Rock, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
You can watch their remarks below and read more about the event here.
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The Hague Academy of International Law
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On January 17, III Senior Treaty Advisor Maja Groff gave remarks on the IACC and the campaign to create it at The Hague Academy of International Law's winter course held at the Peace Palace.
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COUNTERING THE CORRUPT
Reform of the Criminal Justice Administration in South Africa
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On February 6, III's South African partner organization Accountability Now co-organized a hybrid event at the Oliver Tambo Moot Court in Cape Town on Countering the Corrupt.
III Vice Chair Justice Richard Goldstone (left) moderated a panel about the IACC on which III Youth Leaders Network member and founder of BeRelevant Africa Mwila Bwanga (right) argued that African states should lead the efforts to create the Court.
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Among the participants (below) in the day-long event's high-level panel discussions were several signatories to the IACC Declaration, including Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, and Judge Ian Farlam, former Judge at the South African Supreme Court of Appeal.
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Corruption War: Nigeria Makes Case for International Anti-corruption Court. This Day, January 24, 2023.
by Alex Enumah
Een nieuw internationaal hof - om de 'plunderende' Poetin te vervolgen (A new international court - to prosecute the 'plundering' Putin). NRC, January 11, 2023. (Subscription required to read).
by Steven Derix
VOA Interview: Global Corruption Fight Needs More Action. Voice of America, December 14, 2022.
by Akmal Dawi
- Transparency International Chair Delia Ferreira Rubio told VOA, "I think there are lots of things to do, including discussions on an international anti-corruption court. We at Transparency International are researching that possibility but we also foster the possibility of using the regional institutions in order to guarantee the enforcement of conventions."
Are corruption and global warming two sides of the same coin? The Hill Times, December 12, 2022. (Subscription required to read).
by Joseph Ingram
- The international community needs to reflect on whether, as a condition of supporting the newly created “climate funds” proposed at COP27, donor governments contributing to them should themselves be required to become members of the new International Anti-Corruption Court, as would governments receiving support from them. In this way, both the developed and poorer emerging economies will subject themselves to the kind of due diligence and legal safeguards that would give voting publics assurances that increased financing will indeed be used for what it was intended: to benefit growing climate induced impoverishment, and by extension, all of humanity and our planet as a whole.
Hoekstra wil corruptie op kaart zetten (Hoekstra wants to put corruption on the map). BNR, November 28, 2022.
by Mark van Harreveld
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Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra told BNR that he would discuss the establishment of an IACC with his Canadian and Ecuadorian counterparts, among others. "We want to put large-scale corruption more on the map," he said. "It always undermines democracy and the rule of law."
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Countries Call for World Anti-corruption Court. Barron's, November 28, 2022.
by AFP - Agence France Presse
- "The Netherlands, Canada and Ecuador backed calls Monday for the creation of a global anti-corruption court, saying it would help tackle "kleptocrats" at the head of governments."
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Zeinab Badawi interviewed III Chair Judge Mark Wolf on many common questions about the proposal for an International Anti-Corruption Court and the urgent need for the Court.
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The case for an international anti-corruption court. International Bar Association, September 13, 2022.
by III Vice Chair Justice Richard Goldstone, Director of Instituto Anticorrupción Michel Levien González, and III Program Director Ian Lynch
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