The foreign ministers of the three countries expressed their support for the campaign to create an international anti-corruption court, whose function could be similar to that of the International Criminal Court.
The governments of three countries — the Netherlands, Canada and Ecuador — today backed the creation of an international anti-corruption court, underlining how it would strengthen the fight against “kleptocrats” in power.
The foreign ministers of the three countries expressed their support for the campaign to create an international anti-corruption court, whose function could be similar to that of the International Criminal Court.
“Such a court would provide the international community with an additional tool to enforce existing anti-corruption laws,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra tweeted after talks with his counterparts in The Hague, a city that hosts international courts.
About two trillion dollars in procurement spending is lost globally each year to corruption, according to UN figures.
US Judge Mark Wolf, who is leading the campaign, said such a court would “focus on senior (government) officials and bribe takers”. “The culture of eliminating corruption starts from the top,” he stressed during a round table discussion organized on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting.
181 UN member countries have signed the Convention against Corruption with the aim of combating the phenomenon worldwide.
“However, kleptocrats enjoy impunity because they control the administration of justice in the countries they rule,” Wolff said, adding that in such a court “courageous whistleblowers could testify if they cannot do so in the countries where they live.”
However, advocates of the creation of an international anti-corruption court admit that there is still a long way to go before it becomes a reality, while they believe that it will face challenges similar to those faced by the ICC.
The International Criminal Court began operating in 2002 with the purpose of imposing punishments for some of the worst atrocities committed in the world. However, it is up to its member states to arrest the accused.
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