The week in corruption, 17 August 2018

Published in

Voices for Transparency

3 min readAug 26, 2018

International Youth Day 2018

We recently celebrated International Youth Day, highlighting issues that affect young people and the difference they can make in the world.

The theme this year was safe spaces for youth. In a time when 1 in 10 of the world’s children live in conflict zones, it is vital that young people have places where they can develop whilst being included, empowered and happy. These could be civic spaces where they can contribute to their communities, public ones to enjoy sport and leisure, and also secure digital spaces to socialise without borders.

Again and again, corruption deprives young people of these resources. When contracts for urban development get awarded to bribe payers, parks and leisure centres don’t get built. When funds for power stations get embezzled, internet connections break and children get isolated. Furthermore, young people aren’t safe in towns where police sell weapons instead of serving their communities.

Children deserve an end to corruption, and across the world Transparency International empowers them to fight corruption themselves. TI Lithuania’s Transparency International School on Integrity has given intensive anti-corruption training to future leaders from about 110 countries.

At our Cambodian chapter’s International Youth Camp, young people from seven Asian countries learn how to plan, propose and implement anti-corruption projects. Those with the best proposals receive funding to carry out their projects. One attendee said: “I have a dream and I want to make it happen, in real life.”

Young people are not just our future. They are key to creating a just, peaceful and prosperous world right now.

News from Transparency International

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Want to make a difference? Here are 15 ways that young people can fight corruption. You can also get updates on the latest developments in anti-corruption and make yourself heard by following us on Instagram.

Why are anti-corruption success stories still the exception?

After decades of fighting corruption, measured by hundreds of new (or renewed) commitments, institutions and laws, as well as by millions of euros spent, success stories are still the exception, not the norm. This raises the question, what does and does not work in fighting corruption?

Corruption in the news this week

Africa

Kenya: Kenya president urges citizens to arrest the corrupt
Washington Post (12 August)

Kenya: High-profile prosecutions alone won’t solve Kenya’s corruption problem
Quartz Africa (16 August)

South Africa: South Africa rhino poaching: ‘Bribes paid to court syndicate’
BBC (15 August)