The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) urged governments gathered at a conference in Jordan today to take practical action to combat crimes such as bribery, embezzlement and influence-peddling in order to convince a skeptical public that it is possible to fight corruption.
Opening a high-level conference on corruption, Antonio Maria Costa said the international climate against corruption was changing, as reflected in high-profile criminal trials and even in the ousting of governments.
He also challenged participants to take more action. “Are you freezing, seizing and confiscating assets? Do you enforce codes of conduct for public officials, with disclosures of their annual earnings and assets? This would answer simple, yet tough, questions from the public, such as how certain officials own new Mercedes cars while earning $200 per month,” he said.
The UN Convention against Corruption, which came into force a year ago, provides a global framework for effective action, he said. Nearly 150 countries have signed the Convention, the first legally binding international instrument against corruption, and 80 have so far ratified it.
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