Regional Corruption Report: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus

REGIONAL CORRUPTION REPORT: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus

Overview

Currently, among the global challenges of our time, the resolution of which depends on the further development of the world community in the new century, one of the most poignant and “bleeding” is the problem of corruption. Has acquired a new quality of globalization, reflected in particular in its transnational forms of corruption is a serious contradiction of globalization, one of the challenges of global development. The problem of corruption is widespread and has become a systemic problem that affects all areas of human activity.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his address to the General Assembly on the occasion of the adoption of the UN Convention against Corruption aptly likened corruption to a “social plague”, which the epidemic affects all modern societies: “Corruption weakens democracy and the rule of law, which leads to violations of human rights, distorts market forces, degrades the quality of life of people contributes to organized crime, terrorism and other threats to international security. This is a dangerous phenomenon is present in all countries - big and small, rich and poor...”.

The problem of corruption in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus is becoming more and more dangerous, though corruption is not just limited to these three countries. It is widespread in all strata of society and among all branches of government. For this paper, we would be doing a regional corruption report on Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Introduction

Before you pick out the causes of corruption in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, it is necessary to define what corruption is. In the scientific world and in practical there is no unambiguous understanding of this phenomenon.

For example, Article 8 of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, signed on 12 December 2000 in Palermo, corruption is defined as the intentional criminal acts, which include:

The promise, offering or giving to a public official, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage;

The solicitation or acceptance by a public official, directly or indirectly, of an undue advantage.

In the Great Law Dictionary corruption is defined as “socially dangerous phenomenon in politics or government, reflected in the deliberate use by the authorities of their official status for the unlawful obtaining of economic and moral benefits and advantages in any form, as well as bribery of persons”. In the documents of the United Nations on International Anti-Corruption provides a definition of “corruption” - as the abuse of public power for private gain, to third parties, or groups.

From this definition it is clear that corruption:

Is always associated with the civil service, public authority, by virtue of this direct relationship is inherently more or less impact on the nature and content of the government, its reputation in the community. This suggests that corruption is, apart from the criminal, political;

The corruption goes beyond bribes;

It includes many forms of misappropriation of public funds for personal, group or corporate use;

Corruption as the abuse of power, may be to benefit not only for personal but also corporate, crony interest. It is not always directly related ...