Financial Transparency Coalition

Part 3 of 3. James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana discuss the debt problem in Africa, and their book Africa’s Odious Debts: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled a Continent.

Corruption thrives on secrecy, when undisturbed by public access to information about government and business activities. Countering it requires public participation and transparency in anti-corruption efforts and in governance. This is recognised in the UN Convention against Corruption in Article 13 on civil society participation and access to information and in other UNCAC provisions. Additionally, Article 19 and other provisions of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, provide for a right to freedom of expression and to access to information held by public bodies and calls on states of their own accord to put information of public interest...

The time has come to act. Beyond shedding light on the devastating impact of grand corruption, the Arab spring has revealed major anti-money laundering deficiencies, and the huge difficulties of getting the money back even after the dictator has been pushed from power. Corrupt money transferred out of developing and transitional economies is conservatively estimated at US$20 to US$40 billion per year. Hundreds of billions in much needed funds for development have already been taken over the last few decades. While recovery of stolen funds could greatly contribute to development in those countries, prevention of such outflows through greater financial...

Friday's Top Stories from Global Financial Integrity