Special News--February 2023
Mainstreaming Anti-Corruption
into our Lives, Work, and WorldPlenaries from the International Anti-Corruption Conference
Image from the IACC website “Corruption is criminal, immoral and the ultimate betrayal of public trust.….We must hold leaders to account….A vibrant civic space and open access to information are essential. And we must protect the rights and recognize the courage of whistle-blowers who expose wrongdoing….As an age-old plague takes on new forms, let us combat it with new heights of resolve.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Statement on corruption in the context of COVID-19 (15 October 2020) ---------
Overview
In this Update (Issue 80) we focus again on the crucial areas of corruption and integrity. We feature the eight plenaries from the recent International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Washington DC whose overall theme was "Uprooting Corruption--Defending Democratic Values." All 70+ IACC sessions (plenaries and workshops) were live streamed and are or will be available to watch online soon. Kelly attended in person.
We note that this Update emphasizes "mainstreaming." By this we mean further connecting and contributing to call out corruption at all levels and in all forms in our world and in our own lives--from the personal to the political, from the individual to the international etc. Everyone has a part to play in the fight against corruption, as emphasized at IACC. Yet everyone is also vulnerable to the enticing and diverse lures of corruption and frankly this was a missing perspective and emphasis of the otherwise amazing IACC conference.
In addition to the eight IACC plenaries, we also link to the Conference Declaration and provide some summary excerpts below. This Declaration will give you a good feel of IACC's emphases as well as many issues and efforts in the growing anti-corruption movement.
We finish the Update with some personal reflections about being people of integrity who are actively engaged in our world. We want to also "promote the many examples of the good going forward, as people of integrity find common ground for the common good."
Historical Notes--Celebrate!
With this issue of the Update we are celebrating "10 Years and 100 Global Integration Updates." We provide a link at the end for some more historical background on our Updates--80 issues sent more formally via MailChimp (2015-current) and 20 previous and foundational ones sent more informally to a smaller group of colleagues (2013-2015). "Our Global Integration Updates are designed to help shape and support the emerging diversity of global integrators who as learners-practitioners are committed to the common ground for the common good."
Suggested Applications--Making It Personal
- Review the list of IACC Plenaries below and identify a few that you would like to watch.
- Prioritize watching at least the Opening Plenary that overviews the conference theme of Uprooting Corruption and Defending Democratic Values. It is well worth your 90 minutes!
- Read the IACC Conference Declaration excerpted below which is followed by our personal reflections on being people of integrity.
- Share this Update with your colleagues, organization(s), and networks. Discuss it together and consider practical applications--mainstreaming--for both your work and life.
Going further--see these Global Integration Updates:
--Moral Health for a More Whole World (June 2022)
--Climate-Conflict-Corruption: Safeguarding People and Planet (July 2021)
--Tough Times. Tougher People: Best Selves–Better World (October 2020)
Warm greetings,
Kelly and Michèle
MCAresources@gmail.com
Featured Resources
Mainstreaming Anti-Corruption
into our Lives, Work, and World
Plenaries from the International Anti-Corruption Conference
Image from the IACC website
"Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Corruption is moral rottenness—the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness. Global integrity is living consistently in moral wholeness at all levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional, and international; across sectors and settings; local through global; the systemic and structural." Global Integrity Day--9 June
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The 20th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) took place in Washington DC from 6-10 December 2022. It was attended by about 2000 people (including Kelly) who are actively and in many cases prominently engaged in anti-corruption work (ranging from high level government officials to grassroots advocates).
The 70+ sessions (plenaries and workshops) covered a vast array of topics about the ongoing and changing realities of corruption and measures to fight it. Some of the major topics included: kleptocracy and enablers; whistleblowers and human rights defenders; beneficial ownership and financial secrecy; dark money, straw donors, and shell companies; state capture and regulatory capture; digital dictatorships and transnational crime; human greed, ethics, and values; Sustainable Development Goal 16 and the UN Convention Against Corruption, etc.
Note that democratic values were centrally placed in this IACC as they are crucial in the fight against corruption. Democratic societies strive for good governance: the rule of law, respect of human rights, human dignity and equality, free speech and free press, an independent judiciary, voting rights, transparent and accountable governments and strong civil society. Countries with strong democratic values-practices are correlated with lower perceptions of corruption by its citizens.
“Established in 1983, the IACC takes place usually every two years in a different region of the world, and hosts from 800 to 2000 participants from over 140 countries worldwide. [It] advances the anti-corruption agenda by raising awareness and stimulating debate. It fosters networking, cross-fertilisation and the global exchange of experience that are indispensable for effective advocacy and action, on a global and national level." (quote from IACC website).
Watch the IACC Plenaries
Click HERE to see the agenda (descriptions and speakers)
for all the IACC sessions (plenaries and workshops).
The 60+ workshops will also be available online.
Images from the IACC website
Washington Declaration
The IACC Summary Declaration
"We, more than 2000 people in person and more than 1000 online from 126 countries and all sectors and walks of life, gathered for the 20th IACC. We came together sharing a sense of urgency and purpose. We have reaffirmed that we are united and that our collective actions are vital to respond to the global challenges we face, for the future we want....
Facing both crisis and opportunity, in support of this year’s conference theme, Uprooting Corruption, Defending Democratic Values, we therefore declare that:
- Fighting corruption is vital to defending democratic values....
- Trust in institutions must be restored....
- Anticorruption fighters must be protected....
- Global security is under threat more than ever....
- Just recovery from the pandemic should be corruption free....
- Anti-Corruption efforts must respond to gender inequality....
- Environmental corruption must be countered....
- Human trafficking and organized crime must be tackled
- Unscrupulous enablers must be stopped....
- The private sector must be brought into the fold....
- Technology should be leveraged, where appropriate, to strengthen the fight against corruption....
The key to success is collective action. There are no unsurmountable obstacles for this brave and committed anti-corruption community. Together we will prevail.”
Personal Reflections
Being People of Integrity in our World
Image courtesy and © ENOD 2016--California USA Coastline
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, 1964
As people of faith who practice Christian spirituality, we are committed to responsibly engage with others in the challenges facing our world, locally through globally, while holding firmly to our belief that we are in God's hands. We pray that God's purposes "will be done on earth as they are in heaven;" acknowledge that prayer, repentance, and relationship with God are key to human-planetary wellbeing; and live in hope for the time when God through Jesus Christ will decisively intervene in human history with equity--righteousness and justice--to restore all things. And in the meantime, we seek to embrace lifestyles of integrity that prioritize a deep, practical love for truth, peace, and people.
We do not want to further problematize our world's plight by focusing primarily on the negative. Rather we want to also promote the many examples of the good going forward, as people of integrity find common ground for the common good.
Finally, we want to highlight that the despair and disillusion that result from seemingly intractable problems like corruption can also be quite positive. They can embody a crucial existential message about reality that can be "revisited"--explored and heeded--rather than simply "resisted." They can point us to Someone who is bigger than ourselves, the SDGs, humanity, and our world--the knowable, Eternal One who is both in and beyond space-time and who loves us all dearly.
The above thoughts build upon the Personal Reflections in Perils, Paralysis, Hope: Sustainable Development-Sustainable Destruction? (Global Integration Update, October 2022).
10 Years and 100 Global Integration Updates
Some Historical Notes to Celebrate!
In addition to the 80 Global Integration Updates that we have sent since February 2015 to 1500+ colleagues, we initially sent 20 periodic and informal updates to 10-100 colleagues from January 2013 to February 2015. These 20 updates are available on our MCA website (scroll to the bottom of the page on the site). Also note that the first weblog entries on Global Integration began earlier in July 2011 on our CORE Member Care blog site. These 10 entries explored Global Integration in the context of member care and mental health. ogether the 10 weblog entries and the initial 20 updates provide a way to track with the foundational thinking and development of Global Integration.
All the above are good reasons to celebrate!
Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a non-profit, Christian organization working internationally from Geneva and the USA. MCA's involvement in Global Integration focuses on the wellbeing and effectiveness of personnel and their organizations across sectors (e.g., mission, humanitarian, peace, health, and development sectors) as well as global mental health and integrity/anti-corruption, all with a view towards collaboratively supporting sustainable development for all people and the planet. Our services include consultation, training, research, resource development, and publications.
