2012
04/03
Working Paper No 12: Governance of Art Trade
The art trade market is global, highly fragmented and complex, involving a great variety of operators. In light of this complexity, the current level of regulation and existing compliance efforts by individual operators has proven to be insufficient. With some competitors engaged in unethical or illegal behaviour, operating profitably while acting with integrity and ethics is increasingly difficult. As other industry sectors (e.g. the financial sector when faced with the challenge of effectively combating money laundering) have experienced, collective action by key market participants can be a highly effective way to systematically and comprehensively address such business practices and to ensure fair and efficient competition in a global market.
2011
09/05
Working Paper No 11: Governance of Health Systems
As awareness of the role governance in the performance of health systems has increased, so has the need to come up with systematic means to evaluate governance shortcomings to develop adequate interventions. This working paper describes a framework to assess governance in the health systems of low-income countries that is intended to have empirical applicability with a problem-driven approach. The analysis is grounded on a re-categorization of governance dimensions for greater heuristic power, with an emphasis made on the importance of strategic systems design and accountability. The proposed methodology includes mapping of both formal and informal institutions, actors and networks. This underscores the idea that in order to properly address governance weaknesses it is of utmost importance to have an insight into whether the interplay of formal and informal norms facilitates or undermines system performance.
2011
09/05
Working Paper No 10: Accountability for better healthcare
Strengthening accountability in public service provision is increasingly recognized as a precondition to improve the performance of the health sector in low-income countries. However, progress in this field has been hampered to a great extent because of empirical difficulties in measuring and assessing accountability. This article provides a clear operational definition of the concept and discusses how and why accountability in public health service provision presents distinct challenges to the institutional capabilities of most developing countries. On the basis of both elements a set of guidelines to empirically assess accountability in health services is offered.
2010
11/18
Working Paper No 9: The situation of financial intelligence units in central and eastern europe and the former Soviet Union
The transition process in many countries in Central and Eastern Europe from a oneparty state to a democratic system has been long and difficult and has frequently been accompanied by institutional instability. The judiciary and law enforcement bodies have been no exception. Both have suffered from a weak legal tradition in many countries of the region, weak implementation of existing legislation, limited operational effectiveness, corruption and the influence of informal personal networks. These developments can also be observed in the area of financial intelligence. Following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 and the events of September 2001, most countries of the region adopted legislation aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing, as required by their international commitments as well as EU entry requirements. In this context, most countries also set up the required institutions, notably a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
2010
10/04
Working Paper No 8: The Recovery of Stolen Assets: Seeking to balance fundamental human rights at stake
The recovery of stolen assets is a fundamental principle of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). By including this element in the said Convention, the international community recognizes the negative impacts on countries and populations deprived of the billions of dollars that are diverted each year by their corrupt leaders and public officials.
The confiscation and restitution of these illicitly acquired funds may benefit affected, generally poor, countries in urgent need of resources to finance, for example, social programs or infrastructural projects. As these assets are essential for the well-being of the population, their repatriation can thus contribute to repairing the damage caused by the embezzlement.
This paper intends to analyze the way in which fundamental human rights are susceptible to being violated by the illegal acquisition of personal wealth; these are essentially economic, social and cultural rights. Furthermore, the paper tries to identify who the victims are. It shows not only the necessity of punishing the perpetrators of corrupt practices but also underlines the need to guarantee that their fundamental rights, such as the presumption of innocence and the guarantee of property rights, are respected in the process of asset recovery.
Approaching the issue of asset recovery with a human rights perspective it becomes clear that asset recovery is a process whereby it is essential to respect not only the victims’ interests but also to preserve the rights of all persons concerned.
2009
11/02
Working Paper No 7: The Political Economy of Asset Recovery Processes
Since the mid-1990s, the fight against corruption has become an integral part of the international development agenda. Along with the growing concern about corruption, the problem of assets stolen by public officials came to the fore of the agenda. This is evidenced by a steady increase in international agreements, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions adopted in 1997, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) signed in 2003. The UNCAC, in particular, includes specific mechanisms that facilitate repatriation of stolen public assets.
Since political will is the concentrated expression of powerful political and economic interests in a country, more attention must be paid to these interests when it comes to asset recovery measures. This is the aim of the working paper. By using the political economy framework, the paper identifies the political and institutional obstacles to effective policy implementation. The focus will be on the factors involved in the process of international recovery of stolen assets, although this process can and should not be analyzed separately from the broader challenge of the fight against corruption. Both these issues are interrelated and can have a significant impact on each other.
2009
10/30
Working Paper No 6: Managing Proceeds of Asset Recovery
This paper looks at the use of proceeds of asset recovered from Sani Abacha, Vladimir Montesinos, and Ferdinand Marcos and their families. It will also briefly address a much more recent case involving Kazakhstan. Repatriation of stolen monies makes available additional resources for development activities. The challenge is to ensure efficient, accountable and transparent use of such assets, given states may lack capacity or political will and that corruption may be prevalent at various levels of government. Transparency allows for better utilisation of recovered assets, and better targeting of resources into sectors that have potential to benefit the victims of corruption, who happen to be mostly the poor. Lack of effective follow up mechanisms may lead to the inappropriate allocation of resources into sectors that have little effect on alleviating poverty. The cases under review here offer lessons on how to manage repatriation and utilisation of proceeds of asset recovery. Further lessons relate to the participation of third parties and the benefits of making the results of the entire process public.
2008
12/20
Working Paper No 5: Poverty and Corruption: About Poorer and Richer Ways of Life
The Millennium Development Goals were adopted by the global community under the aegis of the UN in 2000. The first of these goals aims at halving absolute poverty of the about 1.1 billion people who live on less than 1 US dollar a day. Although poverty reduction has always been an important concern of development policy, the Millennium Development Goals have brought it back onto centre stage with renewed vigour, in that joint efforts to reduce poverty worldwide has become a moral as well as financial obligation of the global community. Just a glance at the global development indicators reveals how urgent the renewed efforts to fight extreme poverty, especially – and not surprisingly – in least developed countries. According to the UN statistics the number of persons living in extreme poverty has decreased slightly between 1990 and 2001; but it is still estimated that worldwide still approximately one billion people live on less than 1 US dollar a day.
2007
05/20
Working Paper No 4: An Evaluation of National Integrity Systems from a Human Rights Perspective
In the past decade the prevention of corruption has been recognised as a prerequisite for sustainable and equitable development. Academics, policy-makers and activists working towards such governance reforms have come a long way in the relatively short period since corruption has been actively addressed both in the North and the South. However, corruption remains a serious problem in many societies, sectors and international transactions, affecting the lives of millions of people who go about their daily business. Transparency International, an international non-governmental organisation against corruption, was one of the first and certainly the most influential NGO to break the spell and speak out against corruption worldwide. In order to support and inform its policy approaches, Transparency International framed an approach called the National Integrity System to better understand the interdependent causes of corruption and to address them more effectively. Strikingly, however, this approach does not draw from or have any linkages with the rights-based approach to development, which has gained tremendous momentum in the same period. This is all the more noteworthy as both the causes and consequences of corruption have obvious linkages with human rights violations. Given this disconnection between the two discourses, the following contribution is aimed at illuminating both approaches individually with regard to their merits in preventing corruption, and trying to define synergies and potential areas of dialogue and interaction. It is structured in the following way: first, the rights based approach to development will be outlined briefly; second, the concept of the National Integrity System will be elaborated, with particular emphasis on, thirdly, the NIS country reports, and fourthly conclusions will be drawn from the comparison of the two approaches.
2007
01/20
Working Paper No 3: Verhaltensregeln für die Verwaltung von Vorsorgeeinrichtungen
Eine ganze Reihe von Problemfällen hat zu einer breiten Diskussion über das Verhalten der Verantwortlichen für Vorsorgeeinrichtungen geführt, insbesondere bei der internen und externen Verwaltung der Vorsorgevermögens, und aufgezeigt, dass beachtliche Defizite bestehen, vor allem wenn Vergleiche mit anderen professionellen Vermögensverwaltern, wie Banken, gezogen werden. Im Vordergrund muss der Schutz des guten Rufs der einzelnen Vorsorgeeinrichtung sowie das Vertrauen der Begünstigten in die Integrität der mit der Verwaltung dieses Sozialkapitals Betrauten stehen. Grundsätzlich sollten deshalb an Vorsorgeeinrichtungen, was den guten Ruf ihrer obersten Organe und die Gewährleistung der Ordnungsmässigkeit angeht, vergleichbare Anforderungen gestellt werden.
2006
05/20
Working Paper No 2: Multistakeholder Initiatives to Combat Money Laundering and Bribery
Intensified economic globalisation has had positive and negative effects. It has left nation states struggling to deal with the negative fall-out. National regulation against abuses has, however, proven increasingly ineffective, especially since companies have the freedom to move their hazardous activities to under-regulated areas. States have stepped up cooperation and coordination on a bilateral as well as a multilateral basis: international organisations and treaties become more and more relevant to the regulation of international trade relations. However, the traditional instruments of international law are frequently considered too cumbersome and slow. Increasingly international law is created by unconventional means: ‘task forces’ prove to be far more expedient, since they prefer ‘soft law’ to treaty law. Political enforcement by peer-pressure becomes more relevant than by juridical instruments (e.g. courts and tribunals). Furthermore, regulation goes well beyond law-making by legislators and government bodies; non-state actors contribute extensively, especially in the area of regulating international trade relations.
2003
05/20
Working Paper No 1: Anti-Money Laundering: Levelling the Playing Field
Switzerland is frequently accused of being reluctant to take thorough measures to fight money laundering. Both the Swiss authorities and the banks in Switzerland strongly reject such accusations. We are convinced that our anti-money laundering measures are best market practice.
What are the reasons for these markedly different viewpoints? Can they be explained by conceptual differences? Are the negative statements the result of insufficient knowledge of our legal provisions, or are they simply motivated by the political desire of the respective commentators to divert public attention from the deficient anti-money laundering policies in their own countries? A comparison of our measures with the most important competing financial centres could help to answer these questions. The SFS Stiftung Finanzplatz Schweiz – a foundation initiated by the foreign banks in Switzerland – commissioned Professor Mark Pieth of the Basel Institute on Governance to conduct a comparative study of anti-money laundering regulations in the UK, the US and Singapore, the three financial centres which closely compete with the Swiss private banking sector. Professor Pieth is a renowned expert in the field and has close contacts with the international experts who also contributed to the project with in-depth country studies.
Occasional papers
Compliance in the financial industry
Dr Hans-Peter Bauer, Finanzplatz - Information and Analyses on the German Financial Centre (vol 4, July 2007), pp 10-12.
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International aspects of corporate liability and corruption
Gemma Aiolfi/Mark Pieth, in: Stephen Tully (ed.), Handbook of Corporate Legal Responsibility, Edward Elgar Publishers Cheltenham (UK) and Northhampton (USA) 2005; 689.
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The private sector becomes active: The Wolfsberg process
Mark Pieth/Gemma Aiolfi, in: A Practitioner's Guide to International Money Laundering Law and Regulation, City & Financial Ltd., London 2003, p. 267 ff. and Journal of Financial Crime Volume 10/Number 4, April 2003, p. 359 ff.
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