28 June 2011
The World Bank wants every child in the world’s poorest countries to be taught at school about the effects of corruption. The intention is to make materials available to support teaching an anti corruption curriculum. The Bank’s president considers that “development is the rule of law”. The World Bank’s development mission must involve raising awareness of the importance of the rule of law. “You need to find a way to work on the DNA, the psyche of people – you need to reach them at a very early stage. You learn all sorts of other stuff before you get to university.
A comment in response to criticism of the World Bank’s ineffectiveness to date of its attempts to tackle corruption in numerous countries and to ensure offenders are prosecuted, is that “It’s about the courts, the courts, the courts.”
The World Justice Project evaluates the extent of corruption as one of the 8 factors in its rule of law index. New Zealand had the best overall score on the index published earlier this month.
Limited government powers 2nd
Absence of corruption 1st
Order and security 11th
Fundamental rights 3rd
Open government 2nd
Regulatory enforcement 3rd
Access to civil justice 4th
Effective criminal justice 3rd
www.globalissues.org/news/2011/06/14/10076
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/26/world-bank-corruption-education
Integrity Talking Points 