International Anti-Corruption Day: Carrying On Together

December 9th marks the International Anti-Corruption Day. Our collective work is far from over — and that is why it is crucial to continue. Please see below the address of Ilia Shumanov, TI Russia Director General, on the new challenges and new revelations of 2022 — the year that has changed everything.

As practice shows, anti-corruption work in 2022 is still possible. Moreover, our changed everyday context allows more active and indifferent Russian citizens to unite in this work. This year made us realize in a new way that people are, and will remain, our main value. Our team, our community, our audience. Everything we do at Transparency International, we do for people, for their awareness and freedom.

This year presents for us a series of constant challenges. And while we are overcoming them, we do not refocus from our unchanging goal: a society intolerant of corruption and therefore free from it. That’s why we work with people, businesses, and state institutions alike. We are raising both transparency standards of organizations and awareness of citizens.

This year, the scale of Russian corruption has been finally noticed by the world. And the fight against Russian kleptocracy has ceased to be an imitation of this fight. No one can say anymore that this issue is “ambiguous”. Corruption is unambiguous. And the tragedy of 2022 exposed this discovery.

Part of our work couldn’t respond anymore to the current agenda and required operational changes; for instance, our projects on business transparency. Business in Russia has completely refocused from development to self-preservation. That’s a 180-degree turn from transparency and business ethics. We could as well predict that the Russian government would not be open for cooperation. Therefore, we decided to put our efforts into digital services. Our digital tools (Declarator, DumaBingo, Book of Complaints on Corruption) have proven their effectiveness and sustainability. They proved their openness as well: these tools are easy to learn and to share.

2022 is also the year that marks the closure of public registers. In Russia this trend has its own reasons: this is an attempt to secure the sanctioned companies and people — and, of course, to hide the evidence of corruption. Our digital services are developing as dynamically as the Russian government is trying to hide socially significant data. The reverse trend is obvious: the more the government tries to conceal, the more the public is interested in the information concealed.

This year our main focus is education and community building. We see how the demand has significantly grown: people want to gain practical knowledge and, through them, get their civic agency back. Transparency is the only independent organization in our country that continues to engage Russian citizens, legally and professionally, in anti-corruption work.

Every year thousands of people go through our trainings; it’s especially important for us to continue our work with the Russian regions. We engage those who are able to multiply the effect and transfer knowledge and skills to others. For local social activists and politicians, we have the School of Local Anti-Corruption. For students, postgraduates and professors, we have the Laboratory of University Transparency (LOUPE). For students and professionals who wish to improve their anti-corruption skills, there is the course at the Free University. For investigative journalists, we have Dirty Money School, our online school on money laundering investigations. Meanwhile, hundreds of people actively participate in our community: they become our interns, they volunteer for our projects.

Anti-corruption work unites. And not only because anti-corruption investigations have been and remain quite popular. The TI community is built on a simple idea: that corruption is wrong, and can be overcome. The members of our community are not ready to put up with the current state of affairs. They come for our expertise, for practical tools and for the community of like-minded people. Anti-corruption and everything it implies (monitoring, data analysis, investigations, education) is, by definition, a long-term work. But sometimes the results and their effects are not long in coming.

We offer a form of safe civil control, in which everyone can actively participate. Transparency is the main antidote to corruption and civic impotence. That’s why we continue, with your help, to make Russia more transparent. Thank you for your support. Stay tuned.

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