This was the reaction of Transparency International to the outcome of the Global Forum II conference on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity, which concluded at The Hague today. A UN Convention is no substitute for an anti-corruption programme at the governmental level. Referring to the Declaration issued by Ministers in The Hague today, Peter Eigen said that the final document had been considerably better than he had hoped. References to the need for an independent judiciary and for a free media show that the language of international discourse is improving, and the host government of The Netherlands has every reason to feel satisfied with the outcome. The political will to fight corruption at home was arguably much more important than a preoccupation with the drafting of international conventions, said Eigen.
International arrangements are very important.
National integrity systems need them if they are to be able to recover loot stolen and spirited abroad. Both national and international mechanisms are necessary if governments are to tackle the enormously damaging impact of international grand corruption, where private companies compete in bribery, instead of in quality and price. There is considerable scope for making international co-operation more effective and this is an area where the UN could play a role. The Declaration issued by the Ministers in The Hague today did not address sufficiently these core issues. There were some here who plainly would have preferred to be somewhere else but who could not afford to be seen to be absent.