December 9 is International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD). Each year the United Nations Development Program and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime promote a new IACD campaign. This year’s theme, “Your right, your role: say no to corruption” highlights the need for a multifaceted response to fight corruption. In other words, all countries and every person has a role to play to prevent and counter corruption.

Corruption is described as a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies. No country, including Australia, is immune to corruption. The UN tells us that “preventing corruption unlocks progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, helps protect our planet, creates jobs, achieves gender equality, and secures wider access to essential services such as healthcare and education.” It has never been more important to fight for and implement a strong anti-corruption effort while we recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

This year has been a landmark year for global anti-corruption action. In June, the global community gathered for the first ever General Assembly special session against corruption, which adopted anti-corruption action to accelerate implementation of the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only global and comprehensive legally binding instrument against corruption and related crimes.

In August, CourtHeath attended the 6th Annual Australian Dialogue on Bribery and Corruption. This event was hosted by the Global Compact Network Australia and offered an invaluable opportunity to hear national and international leaders in anti-bribery and corruption, compliance and governance, discuss the importance of responsible business conduct through integrated risk management.

To protect your rights, you need to be aware of the role you play and responsibilities you have in the fight against corruption. Speak up, “say no to corruption.”

The 2021 IACD campaign seeks to highlight the rights and responsibilities of everyone – including States, Government officials, civil servants, law enforcement officers, media representatives, the private sector, civil society, academia, the public and youth – in tackling corruption. To achieve this, policies, systems, and measures need to be in place for people to be able to speak up and say no to corruption. 

The focus of IACD 2021 is on countering corruption in six key areas:

1. Education and youth
2. Sport
3. Gender
4. Private sector
5. COVID-19
6. International cooperation.

The aim is to create effective, accountable, and transparent institutions and a global culture of integrity and fairness in all of these areas. We at CourtHeath agree that transparency and accountability are key to the prevention of corruption.

Looking to the future, the UN reports that a week after IACD the global community will meet in Egypt for the 9th session of the Conference of the States Parties (CoSP9) to the United Nations Convention against Corruption to set the international anti-corruption agenda for the coming years.

Please take a look at CourtHeath's blog posts promoting previous IACD campaigns:

• VPS corruption and prevention & Covid recovery
• Corruption begets more corruption: IACD19
• Ignore corruption at your peril
• CourtHeath is #unitedagainstcorruption
• $2.6 trillion stolen through corruption

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A participant in the UN Global Compact, CourtHeath seeks to raise awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals and the principles of the Global Compact with business and government organisations in Victoria.

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IMAGE: UNODC

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