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	Bribe paying still very high worldwide by Transparency International Secretariat & agencies   World’s largest public opinion survey on corruption from Transparency International shows more than 1 in 4 paid a bribe in last 12 months.   More than one person in two thinks corruption has worsened in the last two years, according to the world’s largest public opinion survey on corruption from Transparency International, but survey participants also firmly believe they can make a difference and have the will to take action against graft.   The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 is a survey of 114,000 people in 107 countries and it shows corruption is widespread. 27 per cent of respondents have paid a bribe when accessing public services and institutions in the last 12 months, revealing no improvement from previous surveys.   Still, nearly 9 out of 10 people surveyed said they would act against corruption and two-thirds of those who were asked to pay a bribe had refused, suggesting that governments, civil society and the business sector need to do more to engage people in thwarting corruption.   “Bribe paying levels remain very high worldwide, but people believe they have the power to stop corruption and the number of those willing to combat the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery is significant, “ said Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International.   The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 also found that in too many countries the institutions people rely on to fight corruption and other crime are themselves not trusted. 36 countries view police as the most corrupt, and in those countries an average of 53 per cent of people had been asked to pay a bribe to the police. 20 countries view the judiciary as the most corrupt, and in those countries an average of 30 per cent of the people who had come in contact with the judicial systems had been asked to pay a bribe.   “Governments need to take this cry against corruption from their citizenry seriously and respond with concrete action to elevate transparency and accountability,” Labelle said. “Strong leadership is needed from the G20 governments in particular. In the 17 countries surveyed in the G20, 59 per cent of respondents said their government is not doing a good job at fighting corruption.”   Politicians themselves have much to do to regain trust. The Global Corruption Barometer 2013 shows a crisis of trust in politics and real concern about the capacity of those institutions responsible for bringing criminals to justice. In 51 countries around the world political parties are seen as the most corrupt institution. 55 per cent of respondents think government is run by special interests.   Politicians can lead by example by publishing asset declarations for themselves and their immediate family. Political parties and individual candidates, meanwhile, must disclose where they get their money from to make clear who funds them and to reveal potential conflicts of interest.   Around the world, people’s appraisal of their leaders’ efforts to stop corruption is worse than before the financial crisis began in 2008, when 31 per cent said their government’s efforts to fight corruption were effective. This year it fell to 22 per cent.   “Governments need to make sure that there are strong, independent and well-resourced institutions to prevent and redress corruption. Too many people are harmed when these core institutions and basic services are undermined by the scourge of corruption,” Labelle added.   http://www.transparency.org   November 2013   West failing to return billions of dollars in fines from foreign bribery cases, by Martin Plaut. (Guardian News)   World Bank discovers only 3% of $6bn in fines has been handed back to developing countries whose officials were bribed in fines involving corruption cases in developing countries.   An investigation of almost 400 cases over 13 years found that about $6bn (£3.7bn) was paid by the companies concerned, mostly in out-of-court settlements. But only 3.3% has been returned to the countries whose officials took the bribes.   In Left Out of the Bargain, a report released on Wednesday, the Bank points out that the overwhelming majority of countries that paid over the odds for roads, dams or bridges were in developing countries. Most of these deals involved state contracts, ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.   There has been a growing trend over the past decade to use settlements to conclude foreign bribery cases rather than go through full trials. The World Bank concludes: "In the majority of settlements, the countries whose officials were allegedly bribed have not been involved in the settlements and have not found any other means to obtain redress."   Tim Jones, of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, described the fact that such a tiny sum of money had been returned as "outrageous". "Governments, especially of financial centres such as the UK and Switzerland, need to be doing far more to find and seize corrupt and stolen money, and make sure it is returned to the people affected," he said.   Speaking off the record, officials say the reason why so little of the money has been returned is because governments in the developing world have shown little interest in pursuing corrupt officials. It has been left to Britain, Germany, Switzerland and the US to levy the fines, to ensure a more level playing-field for their own companies.   The report makes no mention of how much each western country has retained of the money that has been received, but the World Bank"s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative is launching a website to allow these calculations to be made.   Nineteen British companies are named in the report, including some well-known exporters.   Jean Pesme, co-ordinator of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, hopes the startling lack of money returned to developing countries will persuade them to join prosecutions brought in London, Washington or Zurich.   "If you are a developing country, you can be a party to a case," he said. "In our view, the effected countries should be allowed to join the prosecution."   http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/nov/27/west-return-fines-bribery-world-bank http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/nov/26/tax-havens-expose-firms-hiding-fortunes Visit the related web page
	UN experts call on Saudi to halt juvenile ‘crucifixion’ by UNHCHR, Reprieve Saudi Arabia   December 2015   UN rights experts urge Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh.   United Nations human rights experts today urged the Government of Saudi Arabia to halt the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, artist and poet of Palestinian origin born in Saudi Arabia, condemned to death for apostasy. According to reports, he could be executed in mid-December.   Mr. Fayadh was sentenced to death on 17 November for the crime of ‘apostasy’, based on a collection of poems published in 2008 and the testimony of a single witness, who claims he had heard the poet make blasphemous comments at a cafe. The testimony had been initially discarded by the court, which deemed it as being motivated by the existing animosity between the witness and the accused.   The UN human rights experts also expressed their concern at the reports that Mr. Fayadh did not have legal counsel during the judicial proceedings, in violation of international law.   “It appears that Mr. Ashraf is about to be executed on the basis of seemingly unreliable evidence to the effect that he exercised his freedom of expression after an unfair trial. This has to be deplored as an arbitrary and thus unlawful execution,” noted the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns.   “Sentencing a poet to death for his writings and alleged blasphemous comments is obviously unacceptable in accordance with any interpretation of human rights,” said David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression. “The promotion of such a violent response against a legitimate form of opinion and expression has a widespread chilling effect across all of Saudi society,” continued Kaye.   The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, stated that “people should be able to express convictions, doubts and ideas without fear of persecution”. He emphasized that “practice of religious belief can best flourish in a society that allows for freedom of expression.”   “The death penalty imposed on Mr. Fayadh for his poetry is in violation of international human rights law and amounts to a grave violation of freedom of artistic expression,” noted the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Karima Bennoune.   “A person sentenced to death must also have the right to seek pardon or commutation of his sentence,” the independent experts stressed.   The statement was also endorsed by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst; and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Mónica Pinto.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16838&LangID=E   September, 2015   A group of UN experts have called on the government of Saudi Arabia to halt its plans to carry out the ‘crucifixion’ of a protester arrested aged 17.   In a statement, the experts – Christof Heyns, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Juan Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and Benyam Mezmur, Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Child – urged Saudi Arabia not execute Ali Mohammed al-Nimr.   Ali is a student who was 17 when he was arrested by the Saudi authorities amid protests in the country’s Eastern Province in 2012. Ali was tortured into signing a forced ‘confession’, which was then used to convict him in the secretive Specialized Criminal Court.   Ali’s lawyer has never been permitted to meet him in order to prepare a defence, and recently it emerged his death sentence – handed down last year – has been upheld in a secret hearing, without his knowledge. With legal avenues now exhausted, Ali could be executed at any moment, with no prior notification of his family. The punishment of ‘crucifixion’ to which he has been sentenced involves beheading and the public display of the prisoner’s body.   The UN experts said: “Any judgment imposing the death penalty upon persons who were children at the time of the offence, and their execution, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s international obligations”. They criticized the failings in Ali’s trial, saying that his forced statements were “unacceptable and cannot be used as evidence before court”, and that Ali “did not receive a fair trial.”   They added: “International law, accepted as binding by Saudi Arabia, provides that capital punishment may only be imposed following trials that comply with the most stringent requirements of fair trial and due process, or could otherwise be considered an arbitrary execution.   “In light of reports that the trial against Mr. al-Nimr fell short of such standards, we call upon the Saudi authorities to ensure a fair retrial of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, and to immediately halt the scheduled execution.”   * So far this year, Saudi Arabia has executed 134 people, many by public beheading. According to Amnesty International, last year China had the highest execution rate in the world, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United States.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16487&LangID=E http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/un-experts-call-on-saudi-to-halt-juvenile-crucifixion/
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