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The 2018 World Cup in Russia must be transparent

In 2010 Russia was awarded the right to host the next FIFA World Cup. After the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, the 2018 World Cup will become the second major international sports event held in the country in its recent history. The Russian government approved a total budget of 660 billion roubles (US$16 billion) for the […]

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Anti-Corruption Cards: Cambodia’s new craze

Transparency International Cambodia recently launched its Anti-Corruption Cards that offer shopping discounts to citizens who sign up to the Declaration Against Corruption.   So far more than 8,000 people in the capital Phnom Penh and provinces have received their cards, entitling them to savings of up to 60 per cent at a variety of shops […]

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Ditching Integrity: US college sports in crisis

Before the American Civil War (1861-65), every state in the Confederacy had stringent laws forbidding anyone to teach slaves reading and writing. In North Carolina, it was a crime to distribute books or pamphlets to slaves. After emancipation, and well into the mid-20th century, schools remained segregated in both the North and South either by […]

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Georgia: protect the messengers who protect citizens’ rights

In the past year there have been a number of high-profile verbal attacks on the leaders of civil society organisations in Georgia who take issue with some of what the government is doing. Rather than trying to undermine the messengers, the government should listen to the concerns they represent. In January a former prime minister […]

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Brazil emerging

Two nations now have the uncommon fortune of consecutively hosting the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games: Russia, and Brazil. This article will focus on Brazil, which saw the Brazilian people taking to the streets, exercising their right to protest corruption; in response, the Brazilian legislature has enacted substantial new anti-corruption laws; and enforcement […]

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UK company transparency: one less place to hide

It’s finally happened. UK legislation requiring the true owners of UK companies to be made public, received the final sign off in Parliament last week. Under the new law, UK-registered companies must submit information on their true owners – such as full name and nationality – to Companies House which up until now has not […]

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Give us our daily scandal

When Transparency International announces the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index in December and Italy performs badly again, there will always be at least one commentator who feigns surprise. How could it happen? Italy has the same score as Bulgaria and Senegal again? The index must be wrong.’ The writer unquestionably accepts the scores for […]

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Chile must reform political party financing laws

The timing couldn’t be better. The Chilean Congress is debating much-needed changes to the laws governing party political finances just as charges were formally made against two high-profile businesspeople for allegedly using fake receipts to fund Chile’s opposition party, the Independent Democratic Union in 2013. Several other former politicians, public officials and businesspeople have also […]

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The power of a question in El Salvador

Transparency laws mean nothing if they are not applied, and it sometimes takes brave citizens and active civil society organisations to make sure that they are. In El Salvador, the anti-corruption legal advice centre operated by FUNDE, our chapter in the country, is just over a year-and-a-half old and has already made a name for […]

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‘It has become more difficult to be corrupt in China’

In a blog published by the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, China expert Christian Goebel speaks about Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign and how it is helping transform China from collectivist one-party rule to a one-person authoritarian system. In Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), China is among the countries with the largest decline in points, despite a […]

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