Latest Corruption Perceptions Index Reveals Poor Performance in Most Countries

Research released at the beginning of this year showed poor performance in most of the countries, corruption-wise, with some disturbing information underlying. Despite continuous attempts to tackle this matter, our society is far from achieving its goals when it comes to diminishing corruption percentages. We are moving too slowly towards an already distant goal.

Not only our progress is hindered in the anti-corruption fight, but activists and journalists in different countries risk their lives daily by exposing high-level corruption.

The index ranks 180 counties and territories and analyses the perceived corruption levels in the public sector, as identified by experts and business people. The 0-100 scale used in the analysis shows worrying indexes all around the world, developing countries were those with the highest vulnerability rates. 0 is highly corrupt, 100 is very clean. In 2017, the index showed that 2/3 of the countries part of the research scored below 50, the average being of 43.

Making Little to No Progress to Tackle the Problem

In 2017, New Zealand and Denmark ranked the highest in from the 180 countries that participated in the research. They scored 89 and 89. At the opposing end, Syria, South Sudan and Somalia ranked the poorest, respectively 14, 12 and 9.

Regionally, the best rank in Europe is 66 and is specific to the West Part of Europe. The worst ranks were registered in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an average score of only 32. However, the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia aren’t performing much better than Sub-Saharan Africa, their average score being a modest 34.

Although since 2012, almost all countries improved their scores in the Corruption Perception Index, the improvements are modest. Besides, certain regions and states declined in ranking. This includes the United Kingdom, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.

What Does This Tell Us?

We have all the data, but what do we do with it? Well, analysts and researchers interpret the index in worrying numbers and tendencies.

Apparently, the countries with the highest corruption rates also have severe issues in protecting their citizens, especially press representatives but also show severe corruption levels at NGOs’ level.

According to experts and researchers, all journalists that were killed or subjected to violence in the past six years were active in countries that score 45 or less in the index. This aspect is highly relevant in the Corruption Perceptions Index as it relates strongly to how corruption relates to and interacts with civil liberties – including free speech and citizens’ and press’ ability to fight for their rights and liberties.

Activists and journalists are progressively under more pressure in countries with high corruption levels and this makes societies from all around the world how important civil society organizations (CSOs) truly are. Also, independent media and anti-corruption institutions should play a bigger role in societies all around the world.

But all these civil players are subjected to immense oppressive initiatives and restrictions when it comes to their actions and efforts. In this context, we witness attacks on journalist, assassinations and vile measures to shut them down.

Civil Liberties at Stake

Although anti-corruption laws were recently implemented in countries all around the world, more than this needs to be done. It takes more than just creating the legal framework to combat corruption. It takes a better implementation, better and more powerful institutions and more involvement from the civil society’s part.

Corrupt individuals adapt with ease to new anti-corruption laws and find impressive subterfuges to elude those. This is mainly the root of the corruption issues, not the poor legal framework per se (although in most countries, it is one of the main faults in the system).

Civil societies and media should be the ones to keep corruption at bay, but how could they do this if this means risking their own lives?

Freedom of association plays a great role in the anti-corruption fight. It might allow people to form associations that hold the ability to influence public policies, to denounce violations of the laws, the right to free speech and pointing out the breaches in the law or institutions.

Best Recommendations to End the Corruption Problem

Sometimes, corruption is not even hidden by the government. Sometimes, you can simply perform a people search and find which politicians are corrupt in a matter of minutes. In many countries, it is normality.

People might be able to end corruption in different ways. But the best recommendations that experts can make expand over press freedom and civil society space. Their connection to the corruption matter is indeed a close one. There is plenty of evidence that suggests that those countries and regions that show a high respect for press freedom and encourage it, that encourage free dialogue and allow full participation of the CSOs in the public arena tend to show higher control over corruption.

Not surprisingly at all, those countries that repress journalists and the free media, restrict civil liberties and rights and seek to put down civil society organizations and bodies score lower in the index in the discussion.

Further recommendations made by experts to combat corruption and increase the freedom of speech and reinforce security in countries all around the world encompass the following.

• Businesses and governmental bodies must encourage free speech, an open and engaged society and independent media.
• More media freedom and minimal regulations that might restrict its activity. This should expand to traditional media and new media equally, and these rights should be protected by law. This way, no fear of violence against the media will ever exist.
• More access to information, enabled by the government and civil society. Laws that reinforce more access to information should be designed and implemented.
• Activists and governments should take full advantage by positive international contexts and ignite more anti-corruption actions.