New UN Sustainable Development Goals Say No to Corruption

By  Alejandra Kubitschek Bujones, Program Director- International Trade & Anti-Corruption at American Conference Institute Recently, UN member-states adopted new Sustainable Development Goals. The voluntary goals, which will replace the Millennium Development Goals due to expire in 2015, are much more ambitious and universal than their predecessor, urging all countries, rather than just developing ones, to do more for their citizens and for the world by 2030. As well as goals on poverty and hunger, the new framework has targets on climate action, good jobs and economic growth, reduced inequalities and peace and justice. While the document will hopefully serve as a set of globally agreed guiding principles for many countries to rally action, drive public engagement and corral efforts across the public, private and non-profit sectors, it is not yet clear how change will happen or how that change will be monitored. That is all the more true for target 16.5: ‘Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms’. Most of us working on anti-corruption compliance have witnessed increased government scrutiny over recent years. This has been driven by several factors. Legislation in developed countries with extra-territorial reach, which allows companies and individuals to be prosecuted for corrupt actions carried out in third countries, has transformed the enforcement environment. For example, US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has seen multi-million dollar fines against high-profile multinational companies and investigations which have rocked political establishments, as in the case of Petrobras in Brazil. At the same time, significant steps have been taken by developing countries to adopt legislation and increase local enforcement, exemplified by the case of GSK in China.  Companies with global operations are aware of the need to be mindful of local authorities as well as those back home. That said, enforcement remains a critical challenge in many jurisdictions. Many countries lack the resources necessary to effectively conduct investigations, prosecute or recover assets. Benefitting from the reinvestment of the million dollar fines it has levied, the US remains the biggest anti-corruption enforcer. The US Department of Justice and the FBI has annually invited investigators from developing countries to share best practices, helping to also build capacity and foster relations with international prosecutors. Such relations are crucial when conducting a corruption investigation in several jurisdictions. But trust between developed and developing countries in some cases remains low, making information sharing to carry out such investigations more challenging. While the UN’s adoption of target 16.5 sends a clear signal from member-states that corruption is unacceptable, it is not yet clear what kind of actions national governments are willing and able to take in order to meet the target nor what a ‘substantial’ reduction entails. In some instances, negotiations carried by diplomats at the UN can be divorced from other national ministries (e.g. Justice Department), which presumably would be in charge of any actions to substantially reduce corruption. It is also unclear what this will mean for business – how will they have to change their conduct on the ground to comply with greater scrutiny? Furthermore, the role the UN or other multilateral bodies might play is also hazy. If the new framework is to be truly universal then a supra-national body like the UN might need to work with national bureaus to monitor and promote anti-corruption cooperation, build working relationships between developing and developed countries, share best practice and lessons learned on what actions are most likely to lessen the impact of corruption on society. While some have argued that the OECD anti-corruption task force would be a natural fit for taking on such a role; however, many developing countries are not members of the OECD. Hence, the UN’s universal reach potentially makes it a better facilitator for such an endeavor. While the adoption of the target raises many questions for the anti-corruption and compliance community, what is clear is that the world’s new target by 2030 means corruption can no longer be part of doing business as usual. Those who don’t recognize that will be swimming against the tide.