Mary Pyrgos

Corruption is not a recent phenomenon. It seems that it appeared together with the patriarchal system and was mentioned for the first time in Assyrian documents 3000 years BC and by the Hammurabi Code of laws. According to those ancient documents corruption was a criminal offence and persons involved in corruption and bribery, were severely punished. Ever since we encounter incidents of corruption in all patriarchal states, all over the world.

In recent times, the problem of corruption was brought to the surface by Transparency International, which was founded in 1993 by former German employees, of the World Bank. The organization, in order to combat corruption, promoted anticorruption measures. Its most important global instrument is the Global Corruption Barometer, which is the largest survey in the world, tracking public opinion on corruption. It surveys more than 114,000 people in 107 countries, on their view of corruption. Although the barometer is criticized by some researchers, Transparency International remains the global civil society organization, leading the fight against corruption and has a consultative status in many international organizations.

The important work done by Transparency International and other civil society organizations, as the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA, founded in 2006), in which participate as members, over 140 countries, regions, associations and individuals, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD founded in 1961), an intergovernmental economic organisation with 38 member countries, the World Bank, but also the many incidents of corruption that came to the surface through the work of journalists, forced in a way, the United Nations, the European Union, the Council of Europe and other bodies and countries, to take action.

Through the research that was undertaken it was found that :
-Corruption is a serious obstacle in the realization of all human rights
-Corruption creates inequalities because it alters the way sources are distributed and affects the economic situation and this affects the life of the people of the country
-Corruption hinders development and affects businesses
- Corruption increases during periods of crises that is, wars and pandemics, because the governments in their effort to solve the problems do not pay much attention to the contracts they sign and to the products they buy

From research undertaken by the United Nations it was also found that 2.6 trilion of dollars are stolen every year, 1.3 trillion are given to briberies and one trillion is lost from taxes. Just to mention some examples, the cost from corruption in Indonisia came to 35 billion dollars and the cost in Afghanistan is much higher.

The economic cost of corruption forced the International Bodies and the World Bank to press states to take even stricter measures in order to eliminate it, but this is not easy, because, according to Transparency International :
- Corruption can take many forms and is linked with behaviours
- Corruption can happen anywhere: in business, government, the courts, the media, and in civil society, as well as across all sectors from health and education to infrastructure and sports.
- Corruption can involve anyone: politicians, government officials, public servants, business people or members of the public.
- Corruption happens in the shadows, often with the help bankers, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents, opaque financial systems and anonymous shell companies
-Corruption adapts to different contexts and changing circumstances. And it can evolve in response to changes in rules, legislation and even technology.
-Corruption is closely linked with integrity, ethos, honesty, sensitivity to criticism. The level of development of these characteristics is not the same in all countries.
-Corruption flourishes in countries where there is poor governance environment, lack of transparency and non-transparent procedures.
-It was also found, that today, women are less prone to corruption and in the rare cases that they are involved is by instigation of a male partner or associate

Because of the complexity of the issue there is no one commonly accepted definition. However, Transparency International defines “corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. As there is no one commonly accepted definition there are no recognized professionals who can evaluate corruption, which appears in many forms.

International Bodies like, United Nations, Council of Europe and later EU and OECD in order to confront the problem have asked their members to take specific measures for its eradication. Amongst these measures are regulations and laws and committees for the evaluation of the situation.

The Group of States Against Corruption known as (GRECO) is one of these measures that was promoted by the Council of Europe. The European Union has also taken a number of measures and asked its members states to implement anticorruption laws and laws to regulate lobbying, laws to protect whistleblowers and many others. It also created a Transparency Register, for those who lobby the European Institutions.

Today Corruption is recognized by the global community as a threat to development generally and to achieving health goals, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal # 3: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all. Furthermore, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Program are creating an evidence base on how best to address corruption in health systems.

Although research has progressed and laws and measures for its elimination have been implemented, the problem is still here and needs to be solved with stricter measures and regulations. This applies to Cyprus as well.

From our experience, as a civil society association, we observed that although everybody talks about corruption, officials and parliamentarians do not know the subject well and therefore it is difficult for them to promote measures for tis elimination.
We also observed that in EU there is still no uniformity on the measures taken and not all the member states are at the same level, regarding the measures taken against corruption. For example, not all countries have specific laws for lobbying and according to the Whistleblowers International Network, by February 2022, only 7 Member States have adopted transposition laws for the protection of Whistleblowers and Cyprus is one of them.(• Denmark • Sweden • Portugal • Lithuania • Malta • Cyprus • Latvia).

What we need from Europe,
Combating corruption in a patriarchal system, where the patriarchal institutions, are very reluctant to make changes is very difficult. Therefore:
-EU should examine how the EU institutions and the institutions in each country function in order to eliminate corruption, through better governance, more transparent practices, more uniformity and solidarity
-EU should promote additional and more transparent measures to re-enforce the respect of the European citizens towards its institutions
-EU should continue to push for the adoption of anti-corruption laws and regulations and to oversee that these laws and regulations are implemented
-EU should make sure that there is a uniform European system for the protection of whistleblowers in all European countries. The system should also provide protection of whistleblowers of one country, who seek protections in another
- EU should involve more women in positions prone to corruption, and ask the member states to do the same
-EU should prepare campaigns to inform European citizens, what is corruption, how it affects all the EU citizens and what measures are taken for its elimination
-EU should emphasize the importance of education for the elimination of corruption by preparing manuals and organizing educational seminars for teachers, lawyers, judges, parliamentarians and government officials, as well as students, so that they are better informed on what is corruption, why it should be avoided and how they can resist to corruption
-EU should take all necessary measures to empower, through seminars, the civil society who fights corruption in member-states, by involving them in information campaigns, in research and in training and by making funds available in order to assist their work against corruption
-EU should undertake frequent Evaluation to examine the progress