Creating a fairer, more stable world: 2024 highlights
Last year, Transparency International:
Guided the UN to better protect development and human rights. We brought anti-corruption measures into the UN’s Financing for Development agenda and ensured that the Human Rights Council recognised the need to monitor corruption in public resourcing more closely. This will help ensure that all people have access to critical public services, such as health and education. Closed loopholes for money laundering in the EU by winning civil society and media access to information on company owners and securing an anti-money laundering authority. At the global level, we advanced policy solutions for regulating enablers of cross-border corruption, such as lawyers and real estate agents, and sparked new interest in the fight against illicit financial flows. Made it easier for communities affected by climate change to submit complaints under the UN Climate Change framework by removing financial barriers. We successfully lobbied for the UN to remove the US$30,000 fee it planned to charge, meaning that anyone can call out global heating-related injustices. Launched an anti-corruption toolkit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the World Economic Forum to support ethical business practices. The toolkit outlines the economic benefits of business integrity – companies that prioritise ethics gain a competitive edge – while helping SMEs navigate the challenges of implementing strong integrity policies. Ensured anti-corruption voices were included in key UN discussions, securing stronger commitments to civic engagement. This is helping create an enabling environment for civil society to fight corruption and other threats globally, enhancing its resilience against attacks, securing whistleblower protection and pushing back against restrictions. Shaped EU proposals to harmonise political finance and anti-corruption measures, and to strengthen laws on prosecuting corruption, securing corporate accountability and supporting victims. The benefits that this could bring range from reducing undue influence on public decision-making to holding companies criminally liable for the actions of all individuals associated with them. They also include providing remedies to victims while allowing them to challenge decisions on the crimes that affected them – corruption victims have for too long been sidelined from the processes that seek justice for them.
2024 in numbers
Building integrity across the globe: National wins for a better world
Transparency International consists of more than 100 chapters – locally established, independent organisations – that fight corruption in their respective countries.
Americas
We persuaded the US Treasury to enforce anti-money laundering rules in the real estate and private investment sectors. While the real estate change applies only to residential and non-commercial real estate, this remains a significant step in fighting money laundering not only in the US but globally, given how attractive the US real estate market has been to corrupt actors worldwide. Our sustained efforts to hold former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli accountable for corruption proved successful. Following around a decade of our legal submissions and other calls for justice, in February, the supreme court upheld his conviction for money laundering, rendering him ineligible to run for president again.
Asia Pacific
We exposed corruption in Bangladesh’s former regime and helped to recover the billions they allegedly stole. Our UK and Bangladesh chapters investigated and reported on the network of UK properties purchased by people close to the government. This fuelled public outrage against the kleptocratic regime, which was eventually toppled by an unprecedented student-led movement. Following this, the chapters helped generate momentum toward freezing the stolen assets, as a step towards repatriation. After highlighting discrepancies between reported and actual party funding during the last election, our Indonesian chapter secured a priority political finance bill in the new parliament’s legislative agenda. The subsequent law should close loopholes that allow funding from illicit activities, as well as improving oversight, enforcing donation and spending limits, and ending the use of “puppet” donors, to establish more transparent and fairer political financing. In the Solomon Islands, we supported young leaders to play a key role in safeguarding democracy. Our chapter launched a clean election campaign, mobilising the Youth for Democracy Network as election observers across 27 constituencies and 80 polling stations. From the opening of polling stations to ballot casting, sealing and counting, their vigilance helped ensure transparency and integrity throughout the process.
Europe and Central Asia
We enhanced transparency and fairness in public procurement across the EU with Integrity Pacts. Authorities in 15 EU countries have committed to embed these pacts – our key tool for good governance in public procurement – in EU-funded public investments. This will help shield millions of euros from potential misuse. We blocked a restrictive “foreign agents” law in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These laws are used to silence critics and avoid accountability, and the one proposed in the Republika Srpska part of the country would have allowed authorities to ban certain civil society organisations. Our Bosnia and Herzegovina chapter successfully led the opposition to the law and its bill was withdrawn in May 2024. Unfortunately, the bill was reintroduced in early 2025 and we will continue to oppose it. We made it harder for Russian kleptocrats to launder and hide their money abroad. Following our sustained pressure on western countries to do much more to enforce new money laundering sanctions against Russia, Transparency International France filed a legal complaint with French prosecutors. In 2024, it was reported that the country’s authorities had seized three properties, one of which is owned by the husband of Vladimir Putin’s ex-wife.
Middle East and North Africa
We convinced the EU to maintain scrutiny on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in regard to money laundering, including with enhanced due diligence by EU banks and other gatekeepers. The UAE is seen as a place where people can launder corrupt wealth with impunity, and we drew attention to the lack of action authorities take to police this. The EU Parliament subsequently rejected the EU Commission’s proposal to take the UAE off of its watch list of high-risk money laundering jurisdictions. We helped several Lebanese organisations’ to advocate for legal reforms and support groups that face discrimination, including women and people with disabilities. Transparency International worked with local organisations to campaign for better governance, transparency and reform by providing both financial and technical support.
Sub-Saharan Africa
We exposed corruption in five African countries’ health care systems and highlighted how this is harming women, girls and other groups at risk of discrimination. Following advocacy and research by our Zimbabwe chapter and various partners, the country’s Medicines Control Agency took steps to address the issue, including confiscating unregistered medicines sold illegally. Meanwhile, the Vice President of Zimbabwe publicly backed the introduction of an electronic procurement system to improve transparency in medical supply purchasing. A member of our Madagascan chapter pioneered work in tackling sexual corruption in the country’s schools and universities. Liantsoa Rakotoarivelo developed an innovative moral contract between teachers, parents and students, designed to reduce opportunities for sexual corruption and empower victims and witnesses to speak out. Awareness grew and more students reported this crime while associations began to do more to tackle it.
Read Transparency International’s Annual Report 2024 in full
Transparency International’s 112 independent chapters and partners around the world create and implement their own national strategies, while also joining forces on critical issues to form the leading movement in the fight against corruption. This article showcases the work of the Transparency International Secretariat, which coordinates the broader movement worldwide, spearheads global and joint advocacy, gathers best practices, conducts world-class research, and provides financial and technical support to our chapters.
