Attachments
SHAPING A BETTER WORLD
2023 HIGHLIGHTS
The Transparency International Secretariat convenes, supports and works alongside our movement to create a united, global force for change. This year:
We guided global resolutions to effectively address key corruption issues. Our joint advocacy strengthened commitments by states parties to the UN Convention against Corruption on cleaning up business, revealing the secretive owners of companies, protecting the public’s resources, whistleblowing and gender. For the first time at the global level, this resolution recognises sexual corruption – “sextortion” – as a form of corruption, one that mostly affects women and girls. See pages 21, 29, 36, 39, 55
We prepared communities for the largest election year in history. With countries covering more than half the world’s population going to the polls in 2024, we nearly doubled the amount of publicly accessible data on politicians’ financing, activities and interests in the EU, to give advocates and journalists the crucial information they need to drive reforms and enable voters to hold their representatives accountable. We also secured stronger legislative frameworks against political corruption in the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. See page 26
We strengthened anti-money laundering proposals in Europe. In the lead-up to the EU’s 6th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, we successfully persuaded the European Parliament to adopt our proposals on beneficial ownership transparency, among other key issues, mitigating the setbacks brought by the Court of Justice of the European Union’s 2022 decision to prevent public access to beneficial ownership information. Now that the directive has been finalised, it represents a huge step forward in the global fight against dirty money. See page 20
We helped people on every continent to safely report corruption and create change. Providing safe reporting mechanisms and legal advice, our Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres worked with 7,480 victims and witnesses of corruption to help them speak up and create systemic change through our case-based advocacy. We also significantly strengthened whistleblower protection in Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Czechia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. See page 38
We used the world’s best-known anti-corruption tool to expose the connections between corruption and conflict. Our Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) drew the attention of millions to the vicious cycle of corruption and conflict. We also took this opportunity to highlight the “trouble at the top”, pointing out the role of corruption enablers – largely based in countries that score well on the index – who launder dirty money and provide other services necessary for corruption to flourish. See page 34
We pushed justice systems to start proceedings against perpetrators and enablers of corruption. With our partners in the Global Anti-Corruption Consortium, we filed 19 legal submissions on cross-border corruption in 13 different jurisdictions. As a result, authorities opened at least five official investigations and sanctioned five individuals. Investigations included those implicating the former President of Senegal and his associates. See page 34
We made it riskier for officials to accept bribes from foreign companies. Following our campaigning and coalition building, US lawmakers passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, the largest expansion of the country’s foreign bribery laws in almost 50 years. In addition to pursuing companies that pay bribes abroad, the US will now pursue foreign officials who accept them, so that public resources are better protected.