Financial Transparency Coalition

As tremors of distrust resonate throughout Russia due to widely-believed allegations of fraud in Sunday’s Parliamentary elections, new research reveals that US$501.3 billion in illicit money has left the country in the ten years (2000-2009) following Vladimir Putin's rise to power. The forthcoming report, Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries over the Decade Ending 2009, is to be published next week by Global Financial Integrity (GFI). To make matters worse, The Wall Street Journal reports that Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has predicted net capital flight upwards of US$85 billion for this year, further adding to the illicit...

It is appropriate that the United Nations officially recognizes Anti-Corruption (9 December) and Human Rights (10 December) on two consecutive days as the two issues are inextricably linked. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services…” Corruption undermines a society’s ability to attain these basic standards. When corrupt individuals and institutions steal aid money, or a Multinational Corporation exploits a country’s...

In this video, Integrity Watch Afghanistan monitors infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. They go out into the field through community monitoring to make sure that projects are done right, and aid money is well spent. At one point, they even directly confront contractors for shoddy work.

Socioeconomic rights, such as that “to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care” (UDHR, Article 25), are currently, and by far, the most frequently unfulfilled human rights. Their widespread under fulfillment also plays a major role in explaining global deficits in civil and political human rights demanding democracy, due process, and the rule of law. Extremely poor people — often physically and mentally stunted due to malnutrition in infancy, illiterate due to lack of schooling, and much preoccupied with their family’s survival — can...