Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Corruption is on the rise and pummeling human rights: New report

Corruption is on the rise and pummeling human rights: New report

Some governments have used the coronavirus pandemic to allow corruption to flourish, Transparency International warns.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been used in many countries as an excuse to curtail basic freedoms and sidestep important checks and balances, according to a new report that stresses the need to accelerate the fight against corruption to uphold human rights and democracy.

The annual Corruption Perceptions Index from Transparency International warns that “human rights and democracy across the world are under assault.”

The Berlin-based nongovernmental organisation surveys business leaders and experts to assign scores to 180 countries and territories on their perceived levels of public sector corruption.

Using a scale from 0 to 100 (with 100 being very clean and 0 ranking as highly corrupt), the 10th annual report found that two-thirds of countries scored below 50. The average score was 43 out of 100. Overall, the fight against corruption is having mixed results – with some nations making gains and others falling behind.

“Since 2012, 25 countries significantly improved their scores, but in the same period 23 countries significantly declined,” the report said.

It also found that despite increased momentum to end the abuse of anonymous shell companies, many high-scoring countries with relatively clean public sectors continue to enable corruption. A shell company does not have a physical location, employees, products or revenue. It is used to store money, help facilitate tax avoidance and, in some cases, deal in illegal activity such as money laundering. Some high-ranking countries such as Switzerland have been called tax havens in part due to their tolerance of shell companies.

But corruption is not merely measured in dollars and cents, the report notes. Financial corruption spills over into law enforcement and the judiciary, which could lead to impunity for serious crimes.

Human rights suffer as a result. This year, highly corrupt countries accounted for almost all murders of human rights defenders around the world.

Least and most corrupt


Western Europe and the European Union came in as the highest-scoring, least corrupt region with a score of 66 out of 100. Sub-Saharan Africa had the lowest score, with 33 out of 100.

Ranking in the top tier with a score of 88 were Denmark, Finland and New Zealand. Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany rounded out the top 10.

Still, despite pledges and promises on paper to fight corruption, Transparency International found that 131 countries out of 180 made no progress towards combating corruption over the last decade.

South Sudan, Syria and Somalia ranked at the bottom of the index. Countries in the grips of conflict or under authoritarian rule scored near the bottom, including Venezuela, Yemen, North Korea, Afghanistan, Libya, Equatorial Guinea and Turkmenistan.

The Middle East and North Africa region, which got a score of 39 out of 100 for the fourth consecutive year, is struggling to fight corruption, according to the report.

“Systemic political misconduct and private interests overtaking the common good have allowed the region – already devastated by various conflicts – to be ravaged by corruption and human rights abuses during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report said.

What next?


Transparency International is urging people everywhere to demand that their governments do more to hold power to account.

Since the coronavirus pandemic struck in early 2020, governments around the world have either spent or earmarked trillions of dollars to stimulate their economies and keep struggling businesses and households afloat.

The report stressed that governments must be as transparent as possible in showing how and where the funds are spent.

Transparency International also stressed that governments, in developed and developing countries alike, must roll back disproportionate restrictions on freedoms of expression and assembly introduced since the beginning of the pandemic.

The pandemic cannot be used as an excuse for corrupt activities, the report added, while agencies and institutions that hold power to account must operate independently and be empowered to detect corruption and do something about it.

Moreover, governments in rich nations must be held accountable for their role in fostering transnational crime, the report said, which requires closing legal loopholes and ensuring that the corrupt do not escape justice.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×