Ferdinand Balfoort
TINZ Director
In partnership with Transparency International (TI) UK and TI chapters around the world, Transparency International New Zealand (TINZ) is tracking the New Zealand government's progress in implementing its commitments made during the 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit.
TI UK created the Anti-corruption pledge tracker in 2017 and has maintained it since. This tool visualises and documents progress made following the summit. The latest update was released in May 2020.
In this version, the design team has modified the data presentation to align directly to the 11 commitments made by New Zealand during the Anti-Corruption Summit.
Of the 11 commitments, we are able to report that 5 are complete, 4 are ongoing (started and open ended), and 2 are underway (started with an end date).
It is common for country leaders to move on to their next challenge, even when the last has not yet been completed. A strong case can be made for the pledges to continue to be a focus of governments. This tool is a mechanism to regularly scrutinise governments to ensure accountability in their fulfilment of their promises.
Governments that attended the London Summit did not adopt any formal mechanism for implementation of the Summit commitments. Civil society’s role in ensuring countries are held accountable, has proven to be vital.
It is also important that Governments recognise the ongoing nature of the fight against corruption requires ongoing action. Completion of commitments does not mean the fight is over. It indicates the need to look for more ambitious objectives.
