WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2021) The new US strategy on countering corruption will condition the provision of foreign and security assistance on the level of corruption in recipient states, a senior government official said on Monday.
"Across the Federal government we will be elevating our anti-corruption work as a cross cutting priority... For example, the Department of Defense is committing to the strategy, to strengthening its planning processes to include more deliberate considerations of security sector governance, prior to the provision of assistance, and to conduct more frequent security cooperation evaluations in countries with significant risks of corruption to determine the effectiveness of security cooperation efforts," the official said.
Corruption evaluation will affect the provision of humanitarian aid as well. The US Agency for International Development will pledge to the implementation of the strategy by focusing on anti-corruption in its operation and "better assessing and addressing corruption risks across all US development and humanitarian assistance."
As the architects of the strategy claim, corruption compromises governments' trustworthiness and reliability, undermines the rule of law, exacerbates inequality and creates unfavorable business environment. All that leads to democratic backslide and rampant human rights violations.
The forthcoming strategy, the first US blueprint on countering corruption, is intended to capture the focus of the Biden-Harris administration on this topic.
