United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime

Crime and Corruption: Impediments to Development in Africa

Round Table
5-6 September, Abuja, Nigeria
Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director

Greetings . . . I wish to thank President Obasanjo, the government of Nigeria, and the people of this beautiful country for hosting this event.  Your generosity is overwhelming and always offered with a smile.

I would like to ask you all, officials from Africa and from overseas, to answer a key question:  what can we do, together, to put an end to violence, crime and corruption, major impediments as they are to development in Africa?   It is this common purpose that has brought us all to the capital of this great African state, Abuja.

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Scientists have found abundant evidence that the human race started right here, in Africa.  Yet, the human race has been neither kind nor generous to Africa, inflicting enormous suffering on this generous continent.  For centuries, millions of Africa's children were taken away to other continents, in chains. After that, and again for hundreds of years, foreign powers occupied Africa, for the purpose of extracting the best of its natural resources.  This ended half a century ago, after WWII, when the continent regained its independence and its political freedom.  But the suffering continued:  famine, diseases, hunger, mass poverty, corruption and conflicts prevailed - in many African countries these miseries are still at work.

For years, the international community has been quite vocal about the need to help Africa break the bonds of poverty and violence.  Lately, the rhetoric seems to have ended, and indeed we are seeing important decisions about increasing development assistance, cancelling foreign debt and opening markets.  Hopefully, the forthcoming Summit of World Leaders at the United Nations General Assembly will push the process forward.  

My vision, like yours, is of a proud and prosperous continent, enriched through its own abundant resources, energized by democracy, governed by accountable and honest leaders, and driven by smart development programmes.  A dream?  Not at all, but we all have to work hard to make it  happen.

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The UNODC Report on Crime and Development in Africa, undertaken at the request of Member States, contains both a promise and a premise:  the goals of prosperity, security and peace can be reached, the Report says, but the resources Africa generates and those Africa receives as development assistance or capital investment, must be well spent.

This Abuja meeting is about turning this premise into a promise, by helping governments make the best use of Africa's resources.  We all know that violence, corruption and crime are stumbling blocks to progress-in Africa, like anywhere else in the world.  We also know that when there is a will, there is a way-that there are remedies at hand, and that the right solutions, in the right combinations, at the right time do produce results.

The challenge is well documented by our Report:

• Conflicts and the resulting violence have tormented the continent for centuries and did not end after independence.  In the last half-century, lives lost in war account for 50 percent of all deaths in Africa.  To make things worse, organized crime has exploited these conflicts to its advantage, even when it has meant protracting humanitarian crises.
• Corruption has deprived Africa of enormous amounts of legitimate revenue, as former leaders transferred money looted from public coffers to financial centres overseas.  Ironically, even after independence, the exploitation of Africa, to the advantage of the rest of the world, has thus continued.  Ordinary Africans are severe in their judgement:  in our survey they confirm that corruption has undermined their security, denied them the right to basic services, and destroyed their trust in elected officials.
• Africa lacks strong judicial systems -- well-trained, honest police officers, prosecutors and judges.  Courthouses and detention facilities are often inadequate:  indeed, wrongdoers with bribe money can easily escape incarceration. As a result, most crime goes unpunished, and we know what that means:  worldwide, impunity breeds even more crime.  Africa is not an exception.
• Drug addiction has been an ongoing drama in many parts of the world, but not in Africa.  At least not until recently.  But now Africa is also under attack from foreign drug traffickers, who are using new African routes to bring Afghan opium and Colombian cocaine to Europe.  Such drug trafficking attracts trans-national organized crime; it also weakens legitimate business and creates a new scourge-drug addiction.
• My final example is a sensitive one. Indeed, it is hard to talk about human trafficking right here, in Africa-a continent devastated for centuries by slavery and exploitation.  Yet, human trafficking is, in fact, occurring right here:  once again, the victims are the children of Africa, many exported to foreign lands and just as many held in bondage not far from home.

These circumstances, and many others documented in the UNODC report, do more than impose heavy suffering on the victims.  They hurt nations as a whole.  In a sense, the sum of micro- suffering (namely, the pains of the victims and the evil deeds by criminals) causes macro- trauma (namely, the poverty of nations and a major impediment to peace and security). 

Let me give you a few examples:

• Foreign investors point to instability, crime and corruption as major obstacles to doing business in Africa.  Their reluctance to bring external capital to Africa denies resources to a continent that is starved for funds.
• Domestic investors have similar fears. For the same reason, honest, law abiding Africans transfer their capital overseas, preferring foreign portfolios and international instruments to opportunities here.  Thus, ironically, Africa's resources still bring wealth to foreign nations, although this no longer happens under the threat of a colonial gun. 
• African talent also goes abroad.  We used to talk about the brain drain, as talented sons and daughters of Africa were seduced by better incomes offered by rich countries.  Today, because of insecurity and corruption, talented African professionals leave their homeland to work elsewhere.

Putting it plainly:  money and talent, human and financial capital are not pulled out of Africa by foreign powers, but pushed out by domestic conditions.  The result is a self-perpetuating cycle in which mass poverty and underdevelopment feed crime and violence that, in turn, lead to even greater poverty. 

Is there an answer?  Absolutely, yes.

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The UNODC Report comes at a propitious time-as does our meeting here in Abuja. Today, African States are themselves pointing to these problems, shedding new light into dark corners, and demonstrating the political will for reform.  More is needed.

As you may know, in a few months, and well before year's end, the UN Convention against Corruption will enter into force.  I hope that more African nations will ratify this crucial international agreement, and be prepared to transform the words of the treaty into deeds-into domestic measures that promote transparency, accountability and honest governance.

The process has already started.  Anti-corruption campaigns across the continent are drawing world attention.  Scores of corrupt leaders are out of work, out of time, out of Africa; many of these dishonest officials remain in Africa, under detention.

Africa's leaders are listening to the voices of their people, and to their message:  W e want our fair share of the world's prosperity.  We deserve a chance to move forward, using our own resources and those provided from abroad, honestly and efficiently.

We are gathered here today to work on a solution:  an African solution.  Your presence at this event bears witness to your belief that development depends on imparting and imposing the rule of law:  law decided in the chamber of deputies and administered in the chamber of tribunals - not the kind of law that issues from the chamber of a gun. 

The United Nations believes that the rule of law and strong judicial systems are a foundation for development and, therefore, must remain at the centre of development plans and programmes.

Of course, Africa needs infrastructure -- highways, communication systems, schools, and hospitals.  But highways only benefit an economy if people can travel and businesses can move goods without fear that criminals may loot cargo, or that corrupt officials will impose illegal levies.  Communication systems only benefit citizens if they are not compromised by attempts to launder money or to steal via the internet.  Schools only benefit children who aren't in danger of being forced to fight in child militias, trafficked abroad, or forced in labour camps. Hospitals can only benefit people who are not afraid to report injuries, and who are not forced to pay bribes for assistance.

The five-year Programme of Action at the center of this Round Table speaks to these facts; it also establishes precise benchmarks.  Another manifesto, authored by a great son of Africa, our Secretary General, titled "In Larger Freedom," reaffirms the special needs of African nations.  It also argues that the Millennium Development goals to eliminate poverty and disease, and to protect our environment, must be complemented by measures to protect Africa's citizens, by fighting organized crime, corruption and terrorism. 

 Achieving these goals requires vision, planning and money.  I know many African countries already have a clear sense of where they are going.  They also have strong national development strategies.  Recent decisions by industrial nations mean that more development resources may also be available.  Now that the trilogy is complete, its elements have to reinforce  one another, as spelled out in the Programme of Action, the document in front of us today. 

Your presence in Abuja, and the decisions you will make back home in the months to come, will prove that the African people own this Programme of Action and intend to implement it in practical and customized way.

It sounds like a challenge, and it is.  But because Africa is today genuinely committed to attracting investment, stopping capital flight, and ending the brain drain, now is the time to act. 

An old Swahili proverb says that "the pot of water that will be filled to the brim first, is one already half full."  African countries have attained that halfway mark on their own:  now, it is just a matter of finishing what Africa itself began.

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At the other end of the spectrum are the funding partners and donor nations.  First of all, they have a responsibility to provide the pledged resources without delay.  And second, they must ensure that development resources are channelled properly, through honest intermediaries, to build both the hardware of development (infrastructures) and the software of success (good governance).

Regarding the first point, I would like to thank the United Kingdom for its strong call to address the special needs of Africa, as evidenced by the Commission for Africa Report, and the recent decision of G8 leaders in favour of greater development assistance and debt relief.  It is also important to note the central role played by France and again the United Kingdom in sponsoring the UNODC report and this Round Table.   

The second point is a bit more difficult.  At a time when industrialized countries are facing fiscal difficulties, greater volumes of development assistance are indeed hard to come by.  Understandably.  Therefore, I advise donor countries not to look at such assistance as net transfers abroad - money taken from systems that are already under stress. Instead, I would suggest that rich nations look at the resources needed to fortify Africa governance systems as an investment.  Yes, as capital formation. Let me explain.

The crime and corruption hitting Africa today are intertwined with crime and violence on other continents. The difference is that organized crime in Africa is still a dwarf compared to organized crime in the northern hemisphere. 

Look around, and this is what you see:  enslaved African women on the streets of Turin; crack cocaine and heroin, transhipped via new routes in Africa, consumed in the dark alleys of Birmingham, Berlin or Zurich: African cannabis smoked in schools throughout France; Russian and Czech weapons illegally traded to kill Africans children; European organized crime causing deforestation in sub-Saharan lands, or pollution with toxic waste; men in China using organs from endangered African species as aphrodisiacs;  diamonds, tainted with the blood of innocent Africans, encircling the necks of the rich and the beautiful;  financial centres under money laundering investigations involving funds looted from Africa.

For experts who study the costs and benefits of globalization, my point is a familiar one:  many of the problems we see on street corners -- whether here in Abuja, or in London or New York-begin somewhere else, far away.  Trouble, like news and goods, today travels faster and further than ever before, as modern criminals advance their own type of globalisation:  one without the moral and legal frontiers that separate honesty from dishonesty, justice from injustice, even life from death.  In short, the money spent to help protect thy neighbour, is money spent to protect thyself.  

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The Programme of Action developed by African experts for this meeting is a step in the right direction. The next question is how to ensure its success. I recommend four specific steps:

• African leaders and G8 nations should reaffirm the Programme's value at the United Nations GA Summit in New York;
• President Obasanjo, Chair of the African Union (AU) and President Konare, Chair of the African Union Commission, should ensure that the Programme is adopted at the next Summit of the African Union;
• African leaders and funding partners (aid agencies and financial institutions that assist Africa) should incorporate the Programme into their own development strategies;
• Key African institutions - the African Union Commission, NEPAD, the African Development Bank, the Regional Economic Commissions-as well as NGOs and the private sector should embrace this Programme and make resources available for its implementation;

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will continue to assist countries that already have the mechanisms and policies in place to support the UN conventions against drugs, organized crime, corruption, and terrorism.  African countries and institutions have made considerable headway in this regard:  they are groundbreakers, in the most powerful sense of the word.  We want to work closely with them.  We also want to spread the secret of their success, and share best practices with countries and institutions inspired by their example.

Most importantly, we want to see monitoring mechanisms in place, tools that will allow African nations to measure progress at regular intervals. Accountability must work across the board, and it has to be mutual. There is a sayings, "Proveriaiu, no doveriaiu.  I trust, but I check."  It isn't a Nigerian proverb.  It's Russian, but it is still wise advice.  We all have to check on one another on the progress we all make.

I would like to finish these remarks the way I began, by reaffirming my faith in a vision of a proud, peaceful and prosperous Africa. It is the Africa Africans want, deserve and can attain.

Thank you.