OUR GLOBAL MOVEMENT
This report examines the quality and effectiveness of defence governance across fifteen countries in Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine. It analyses vulnerabilities to corruption risk and the strength of institutional safeguards against corruption across national defence sectors, drawing on data collected as part of Transparency International Defence & Security’s (TI-DS) Government Defence Integrity Index (GDI).
It is intended to provide governments and policymakers with an analysis of defence governance standards in the region and supply civil society with an evidence base that will facilitate their engagement with defence establishments and support advocacy for reforms that will enhance the transparency, effectiveness and accountability of these institutions.
This report details good practice guidelines and policy implications that are designed to reduce the opportunities for corruption and improve the quality of defence governance in Central and Eastern Europe. It identifies five key issues of defence governance where improvements are urgently needed in order to mitigate corruption risks: parliamentary oversight, defence procurement, transparency and access to information, whistleblowing, and military operations.
The 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit was undoubtedly a landmark in global recognition that tackling corruption matters. It was a unique opportunity to develop plans of action to effectively address this issue, acknowledging that the real victims of corruption are the world’s citizens. It created a platform for 43 governments to sign up to ambitious targets.
The Summit covered a wide array of topics, which presented opportunities both for success and failure. However, after an initial analysis by Transparency International UK, more than half of the 648 commitments – 56 per cent – were identified as “concrete” promises. A third – 33 per cent – were “new”, that is, generated by the Summit. And about a third – 30 per cent – were “ambitious”.
Fora of this sort tend to lose relevance once another event takes hold of the international agenda. For this reason, Transparency International’s global movement embarked on a journey of tracking the progress of anti-corruption promises made at the Summit through Transparency International UK’s Promise to Practice Project.
Four years on since the 2016 Anti-Corruption Summit, this report takes stock of the progress achieved through this initiative.
