One day in 1993 at 2:43 in the morning, the dawn had not yet come. The sky was like ink, and a few sparse stars twinkled in the sky. Peter Eigen, who lives in Berlin, the capital of Germany, came to the study. He held a cup of coffee and fell into contemplation. A few days ago, he had just returned from South America and had resigned as a director of the World Bank. He was dissatisfied with his idle state, and even more angry with what he had seen in South America and Africa over the years: the world The powerful and powerful people regard public property as a commodity in the shopping mall of their choice. They fabricate some projects that no one needs and no one pays for, discuss and make decisions, take the opportunity to bribe and buy people’s hearts, and spend a lot of money to pay off the debts of important projects. Some officials have turned buildings, banks, and hospitals into sources of greed and self-enrichment through secret operations… He decided to do something, so he picked up the phone.
In this way, Peter Eigen used a telephone to connect with the outside world, along with two other retired officials and a volunteer, to establish the world’s only non-profit, non-partisan, and anti-corruption international non-government mission. Organization – Transparency International.
Time flies, Mr. Peter Eigen is 69 years old, and the “Transparency International” he founded has achieved remarkable results after 15 years of development.
How Transparency International Works The
structure of Transparency International’s headquarters is divided into a Council and an Executive Committee. The council has 10 members, most of whom are senior legal experts and businessmen, elected by the Transparency International global conference, which is held annually with the participation of 83 national chapters. The Executive Committee consists of 31 members, most of whom have held senior positions in their governments. In addition, there is an International Consultant Association, which employs professionals from all over the world as consultants to provide professional anti-corruption advice.
So how does a ranking list come about?
Take the “2006 Global Corruption Index Ranking” as an example, its analysis data mainly comes from nearly 60,000 interviews conducted by polling agency Gallup International in 62 countries that year, and also selected 12 authoritative organizations in the world (including 18 sub-indicators of the World Bank, World Economic Forum, Lausanne School of Management, PricewaterhouseCoopers, etc.). The final corruption insight index adopts a 10-point scale: 10 points means the most clean; between 8.0 and 10.0 means very clean; between 5.5 and 8.0 is slightly corrupt; and the score is below 5.5 countries and regions are considered to have obvious problems.
Since 1995, “Transparency International” has published an annual “Corruption Perception Index” to assess the level of corruption in countries around the world (indicating the level of corruption of a country’s civil servants). Important indicators and parameters of risk. In addition, Transparency International, which raised its own funds, commissioned Gallup to conduct a survey on bribery in various countries, and publishes a “Bribery Index” every two years (which shows the extent to which a country’s businessmen pay bribes overseas). This ranking clearly shows that exporting companies in many developed countries pay bribes abroad to the same extent and means as those in developing countries.
Past: Transcript of 15 years
Transparency International has positioned itself as an organization of civil society – does not need to please and please specific interest groups and countries, it does not believe that third world countries are necessarily more corrupt than developed countries, nor does it think that Corruption is the culture of a particular country, instead it believes that developed countries have a special responsibility to eliminate international corruption.
In order to prevent corruption within its own organization, its various activities and projects are mainly funded by development aid agencies, foundations and enterprises in various countries. The headquarters only provides effective start-up funds to national chapters. Transparency International encourages national chapters to raise funds by themselves. source to safeguard its independence. Secondly, Transparency International has an open and transparent assessment system, which does not allow any member to embezzle funds from international aid agencies for personal gain. The accounts they report to Transparency International must be reviewed by local independent accounting and auditing. In order to reward those who dare to expose corruption and uphold the truth, Transparency International also issues an “Integrity Award” every year, giving public opinion support and substantial rewards to those who dare to expose corruption.
In the past, international financial organizations turned a blind eye to corruption, development aid agencies taboo anti-corruption, and the private sector was overwhelmed with bribery. But today, corruption is on the international political agenda along with human rights and environmental issues. For 15 years, Transparency International has helped Canada, South Korea, Brazil and some countries in Africa develop anti-corruption programs and won the approval of their governments.
A Harvard study shows that going from a (low) corruption level in Singapore to a (high) level of corruption in Mexico, according to Transparency International’s CPI, is equivalent to raising tariff rates by more than 20%. For every 1 percent increase in tariff rates, the amount of foreign direct investment a country receives will fall by about 5 percent. Perhaps the best footnote to Transparency International’s 15-year report is that more foreign investors and international aid agencies are factoring corruption and bribery into their investments and loans.
David Newsbon, CEO of Transparency International, said: “With rapid economic development, there are two possibilities. One may be that corruption will become more and more popular; the other may be that some lawbreakers will take advantage of the rapid development. Self-serving, corruption. Rapid economic development presents an opportunity to improve corruption as well as corruption. This is a real challenge.” Now: Corruption
data is a wealth
Myanmar ranks ahead of Haiti. Countries that made progress in the overall ranking were China, India, Japan, Lebanon, Turkey and others. In all 163 countries and regions, countries with relatively serious corruption account for about 75%, including almost all low-income countries, which shows that most countries in the world still face serious domestic corruption.
Mainland China, which ranked 78th last year, jumped to 70th this year. Hong Kong, China ranked 15th and Macau, China ranked 26th. Analysts say this shows that the Chinese government’s efforts to crack down on corrupt officials are paying off. Taiwan, China, dropped from 32nd in 2005 to 34th. In response to this result, non-governmental organizations in Taiwan Province slammed the Chen Shui-bian government violently.
Liao Ran, the organization’s South Asia and Greater China Affairs Commissioner, once said: “There is no cure for corruption. It needs to be reformed bit by bit, and the two spirits of transparency and checks and balances should be continuously increased in the social structure.”
Transparency International has always listed China as an important part of its country-by-country report in its annual report. According to the report, medical and health expenditure is the third largest consumption of Chinese people after food and education expenditure. Corruption in China’s medical industry is an important reason why ordinary people cannot afford medical care. Transparency International highly praised China’s strong anti-corruption determination and the establishment of a “blacklist” system for bribery criminal records.
The information provided by Transparency International may not be a completely accurate reflection of the state of corruption in various countries, but it is important that it uncovers a breeding ground for corruption. Therefore, these free data are not a small treasure for us.
The future: The filth
index When Transparency International publishes its CPI or Annual Corruption Report every year, it always pisses off some countries. Mr. Liao Ran jokingly said that some countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia, in particular, “become furious” every time the report comes out. Either harsh words against Transparency International or threats of judicial proceedings. In their eyes, Transparency International is a tool of Western colonialism. From the perspective of funding sources, this accusation is somewhat “similar”. For more than a decade, most of Transparency International’s donations have come from developed countries, and none from developing countries, including those rich in oil production. As the Asia-Pacific Department hardly raises funds from Asian countries, the funds allocated by the branches in Asian countries are the least. The proportions are in stark contrast.
Each country has its own strategic priorities for foreign aid, and the funds must be used to benefit its own national interests. After Transparency International released the Corruption Corruption Index and Bribery Index, many developing countries asked Transparency International to produce a Dirt-Hidden Index to show which country is harbouring the injustices hidden by corrupt officials in other countries. The most money. “Transparency International” has always wanted to do this list, but the current situation is: “Transparency International”‘s financial assistance is almost exclusively from Western developed countries, while some developed countries are very willing to hide and protect other countries’ corrupt officials to hide in their own countries. It is almost impossible to expect them to donate to a project like the Dirt Index, which cannot be put into practice as funds cannot be raised.
[Data link]:
Transparency International (TI), founded by German Peter Eigen in 1993, is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with permanent offices in London and Santiago, and branches in China. Since 1995, the “Corruption Corruption Index” (CPI) has been published every year, and the “Bribery Index” (BPI) has been published every two years. Today it has developed into the most authoritative, comprehensive and accurate international NGO that studies corruption issues.
