Mission


The mission of Integrity Initiatives International is to strengthen the enforcement of criminal laws to punish and deter leaders who are corrupt and regularly violate human rights, and also to create opportunities for the democratic process to replace them with leaders dedicated to serving their citizens rather than enriching themselves.

III works to end grand corruption by:
  1. Supporting national measures, such as the recently created special anti-corruption court in Ukraine;
  2. Promoting understanding of the close connection between grand corruption and violations of human rights, and collaboration between human rights and anti-corruption organizations;
  3. Forging a network of young people dedicated to combatting corruption in their own country and around the world; and
  4. Catalyzing a campaign to establish the IACC.
 

Current Events

Herald Nigeria highlights III advocacy for IACC, support from Colombia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Norway, and Peru for anti-corruption efforts

 Read news coverage of remarks at the 74th United Nations General Assembly from III Chairman Mark Wolf; foreign affairs ministers Néstor Popolizio of Peru, Carlos Trujillo of Colombia, and Saifuddin Bin Abdullah of Malaysia; and Norway’s Minister of International Development, Dag Inge Ulstein.

Jonathan Fanton Joins III Board of Directors

Integrity Initiatives International is honored to welcome historian and humanitarian Dr. Jonathan Fanton to III’s Board of Directors. Dr. Fanton’s knowledge and insight will be invaluable for III as we continue to campaign to end grand corruption and promote the establishment of an International Anti-Corruption Court. Dr. Fanton is the immediate past President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Previously Dr. Fanton has served as President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the President of The New School for Social Research, and the Interim Director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. Dr. Fanton has served as board chair for several organizations, including Human Rights Watch, the Security Council Report, and the New York State Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities. He currently serves on the boards of Scholars at Risk, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Benjamin Franklin House, and he chairs the advisory board of the Newman’s Own Foundation. Dr. Fanton recognizes, as does III, that grand corruption is a major human rights issue worldwide and his passion to combat kleptocracy makes him an important addition to our board. 

The International Anti-Corruption Court

Around the world, support and momentum are building for the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court. In November 2018, the United Nations adopted a resolution calling for the convening of a Special Session of the General Assembly in the first half of 2021 “on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation.’’ In January 2019, Colombia became the first country to call on the United Nations specifically to create the IACC and make it a key focus of the 2021 Special Session. In May 2019, Peru joined Colombia in backing the IACC, as President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez and President of Peru Martín Vizcarra signed a Joint Presidential Declaration calling for further study and action to establish an IACC. On June 12, 2019, Colombian Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo delivered opening remarks, including a call for support of the IACC, to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Expert Group Meeting in Oslo, Norway. Through III and allied anti-corruption NGOs, support continues to grow internationally–from presidents, cabinet-level leaders, diplomats, legal experts, and courageous and determined young people from nations throughout the world, on every continent.

Oslo Statement endorses consideration of International Anti-Corruption Court

III is pleased that the Outcome Statement from the United Nations Global Expert Group Meeting on Corruption convened in Oslo June 12-14 endorsed further exploration of the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court, one of the key strategic priorities of III. The statement, issued after a meeting of more than 140 experts representing more than 50 countries, recommended that “innovative ideas to end impunity should be explored… such as establishing an international anti-corruption court.” III is grateful that the Expert Group’s statement creates important, additional momentum for the United Nations Convention Against Corruption Conference of States Parties to add discussion of the International Anti-Corruption Court to the 2021 Special Session agenda. The full text of the Oslo statement may be found below, and support for exploring further the International Anti-Corruption Court concept is part of Recommendation 46.

International Anti-Corruption Court “favoured by progressive leaders in Africa”

South Africa’s “Daily Maverick” is the latest global news organization to highlight the growing international support for an International Anti-Corruption Court. In this article by III International Committee members Justice Richard Goldstone and Paul Hoffman, the authors note support for the IACC from Colombia and “progressive leaders in Africa” and make the case that “Africa is well-placed to nimbly steal a march” on the IACC campaign “by swiftly moving to set up the much-needed All-Africa Anti-Corruption Court (AAACC).”

Colombia’s Foreign Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, calls grand corruption “a poverty tax paid for by society as a whole”

Colombia’s Foreign Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, explains in this interview with Colombia’s leading national newspaper, El Tiempo, why grand corruption is “a poverty tax paid for by society as a whole” in countries ruled by corrupt, kleptocratic leaders, and why Colombia is leading the global campaign for an International Anti-Corruption Court.

“Chancellor Holmes Trujillo in Oslo promotes the creation of the International Anti-Corruption Court”

Remarks of Judge Mark L. Wolf to the Global Expert Group Meeting on Corruption Involving Vast Quantities of Assets, June 13, 2019

 

Video: The World Needs an International Anti-Corruption Court

 
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“Grand corruption or ‘kleptocracy’ - the abuse of public office for personal profit by a nation’s leaders - is both a primary cause of and the primary obstacle to resolving countless issues of grave international concern: political destabilization of nations, refugee crises, poverty, hunger, illiteracy, climate change, terrorism, and more.

The resources kleptocrats steal from their people are resources that could and should promote public health, education, economic and social development, and mitigation of climate change. Grand corruption is never a victimless crime. Indeed, it is a crime that disproportionately harms the world’s poor and powerless.

Today, a movement is growing throughout the world to create an International Anti-Corruption Court to combat and prevent grand corruption, hold kleptocrats internationally accountable for their crimes, and deter others who would steal national resources that rightly belong to their people.

In 2019, Colombia has urged the United Nations to create an IACC. Peru has joined Colombia in this call. A growing group of international supporters are advocating for establishment of an IACC to be a key focus of the United Nations’ 2021 Special Session being convened to combat corruption.

One hundred eighty-six countries are currently parties to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (“UNCAC”), which prohibits extortion, bribery, money laundering and misappropriation of national resources, and which also imposes obligations on state parties to enforce those laws against corrupt national leaders. However, many of those kleptocrats enjoy impunity in their own countries because they control their national judiciaries. With no just and transparent national forum for prosecuting corrupt national leaders, kleptocrats act with impunity.

To deter and diminish grand corruption, it is essential that the statutes required by UNCAC be enforced. Greater transparency of beneficial ownership is necessary. Improved international cooperation in investigating the flow of the fruits of grand corruption is important. However, transparency and the acquisition of evidence are not ends in themselves.

An impartial International Anti-Corruption Court, acting on the principle of complementarity, would be the venue in which corrupt leaders would be held accountable for the crimes they committed when their countries are unwilling or unable to prosecute the kleptocrats themselves.”
— The Honorable Mark L. Wolf
Chair, Integrity Initiatives International