TI International Defence and Security Programme

Corruption in Defence

Transparency International (TI) is the civil society organisation leading the global fight against corruption. Through more than 90 chapters worldwide and an international secretariat in Berlin, Germany, Transparency International raises awareness of the damaging effects of corruption, and works with partners in government, business and civil society to develop and implement effective measures to tackle it. For more information on the Transparency International movement go to: www.transparency.org.

Transparency International’s global defence and security programme “Defence Against Corruption” (DAC) aims to reduce corruption and transform attitudes to corruption in defence and security sectors to benefit citizens. The international defence programme is led by Transparency International-UK on behalf of the TI movement.

Transparency International’s defence programme began six years ago, bringing together governments, defence companies, academics and civil society to determine the best ways to approach the problem of defence corruption. The DAC Programme is now well-known to defence ministries, security ministries, defence companies and organisations across the globe. The work is currently funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and NATO.

DAC works with reform-minded nations ranging from Colombia to Poland to Afghanistan and with multilateral organizations to reduce corruption risk in defence and security. With governments, multilateral organisations, civil society and the defence industry DAC collaborates constructively to raise the integrity of international arms transfers. To achieve sustainable change across the world, the team supports experts and campaigners in counter-corruption reform, delivers workshops and nurtures knowledge transfer on counter-corruption.

Out of an active collaboration with NATO, two counter-corruption tools have been developed:

1. The “Integrity Self-Assessment Questionnaire and evaluation process” for nations was developed in 2008 and 2009 in collaboration with Poland and a working group of ten nations. Successful trials took place in Norway, Ukraine and Bosnia Herzegovina.  It is now widely available for nations to use.
2. An innovative “Building integrity and reducing corruption risk” training course has been developed. This five-day course is aimed at experienced ministry of defence and interior ministry officials and armed forces officers at the OF5 level and above. This course has been given six times, with participation from some twenty nations, and is being extended.

Both the self-assessment and the training course are aimed at supporting nations in building knowledge and expertise on counter-corruption in defence.

The DAC programme is furthermore actively engaged with African nations on defence and security corruption issues, and supports the negotiation of the UN Arms Trade Treaty. 

Also key in the fight against corruption in the defence and security sector is the research conducted and published by the DAC Team. This is disseminated to interested parties to promote best practice and encourage the implementation of up-to-date anti-corruption methods. DAC also publishes a bi-monthly news digest on defence corruption cases.

Information on Transparency International’s work in the defence and security sector to date, including background, overviews of current and past projects, and publications, is available at the Defence Against Corruption website: www.defenceagainstcorruption.org.

Contacts:

Transparency International-UK

Defence Against Corruption programme

London

Director

Mark Pyman

Tel.: +44 207 785 6359

E-mail: mark.pyman@transparency.org.uk

Programme Manager

Anne Christine Wegener

Tel.: +44 207 785 6358

E-mail: anne-christine.wegener@transparency.org.uk