9 December 2013: The UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a youth campaign against corruption as a major barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day.

The UN launched the international campaign titled ‘Zero Corruption – 100% Development,’ at its offices in Panama. In a message delivered by UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that good governance is critical to sustainable development, and that corruption must be taken into account in defining and implementing the post-2015 development agenda. He called on all actors to foster a culture of integrity, transparency, and accountability and to ask governments to give priority to anti-corruption measures.

The UN Global Compact and UNDP also launched a call to action, urging private and public partners to engage in transparent procurement.

UNODC hosts the secretariat of the UN Convention Against Corruption, which the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted in 2003, at the same time as it designated 9 December as International Anti-Corruption Day. UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov stressed that corruption affects all countries, not only developing countries.

The UN Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC) said that over 5% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is lost to corruption annually, emphasizing the cost to democracy and rule of law in terms of organized crime and other threats to human security. UNDP estimates that funds lost to corruption amount to ten times the level of official development assistance (ODA). [UN Press Release] [UNRIC Press Release] [Secretary-General’s Message] [Campaign Website]