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Four Arab countries are on the list of the ten most corrupt countries in the world, according to the annual Corruption Perception Indicators report published by Transparency International.
And the four countries are Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Syria.
The report notes that Syria was down 13 points from 2012. Yemen also declined by eight points during the same period.
In contrast, the United Arab Emirates was the least corrupt of the Arab countries, followed by Qatar by nine points.
Bin Salman campaign
The report says Saudi Arabia has made progress in the fight against corruption. It is up four points in index scores from a year ago.
However, the report and the index calculation do not address other data such as the deterioration of the human rights record in the Kingdom or the restrictions placed on journalists, political and opposition activists and to citizens in general.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a campaign in 2017 to fight corruption, as part of his plan for reform in the country.
The Kingdom later announced that this campaign had succeeded in recovering around $ 106 billion in “stolen” assets and wealth. But the operation took place in the absence of any form of transparency, and no investigation or fair trial of the suspects was announced.
The report recommended that the Kingdom use its presidency of the G20 summit to end all forms of suppression of political freedoms and to support transparency and accountability within the executive.
Tunisian dead end
The report devotes part to Tunisia, as it was mentioned that it has suffered from a deadlock over the past five years with regard to corruption indicators.
Tunisia obtained 43 points out of a hundred in the corruption perception index.
During the period under review, Tunisia adopted legal amendments that protect whistleblowers, improve access to information, make room for civil society and establish community accountability.
However, these laws were not sufficient to improve Tunisia’s position in corruption indicators, which the organization attributes to lack of effective law enforcement.
The report says law enforcement is the biggest challenge Tunisia faces in its fight against corruption.
He recommended the need to provide financial and human resources to strengthen the Anti-Corruption Commission and give it more independence.
The report also attributed Tunisia’s stagnation to failing to hold any politicians accountable for corruption-related crimes or returning stolen money. This is partly due to the lack of complete independence of the judiciary.
Overall recommendations
The index is based on rating countries on a hundred point scale, so corruption decreases as the state achieves points.
The index included 180 countries, of which only a third scored more than fifty points.
The countries were divided into six regions, namely the Americas, Western Europe and the European Union, African Sahara, Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific.
Countries in Western Europe and the European Union were the least corrupt, with Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Singapore, and Sweden in the top five.
The 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index focuses on the relationship between politics, money and corruption, and is based on data on the transparency of political campaign finance and public access to decision-making .
The report made seven recommendations to end global corruption, restore confidence in government policies, and fight political corruption. Which:
- Reduce opportunities for conflicts of interest
- Control of political financing
- Improve electoral integrity
- Organize electoral crowd activities
- Address preferential transactions and favoritism
- Empower citizens to make political decisions and know their civil and political rights
- Establish oversight and accountability
In total, the report revealed the progress of 22 countries in the fight against corruption, led by Greece, Guyana and Estonia. While 21 countries fell, including Canada, Nicaragua and Australia.
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