Monday, November 06, 2006
Corruption still high in Azerbaijan - Transparency International
Baku, November 6, AssA-Irada
Azerbaijan ranks 130th out of 163 countries on corruption and 14th among
Eastern European states, international watchdog Transparency International
has said.
Transparency Azerbaijan Executive Director Rena Safaraliyeva regarded this
as a high indicator for the country. Azerbaijan is ahead of some other
former Soviet republics, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Belarus and Uzbekistan, she said.
The rating marks an improvement compared to the group's feedback issued in
October 2005, when Azerbaijan was rated 137th out of 159 countries on
corruption levels.
Neighboring Armenia and Georgia were rated 93rd and 99th respectively.
Corruption levels in Georgia went down, while the situation in Armenia
worsened.
The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, released on Monday, draws on multiple
expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in
163 countries, the greatest scope of any CPI to date. It scores countries on
a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived
corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.
Seventy-one countries - nearly half - score below three, indicating that
corruption is perceived as rampant. Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8.
Guinea, Iraq and Myanmar share the penultimate slot, each with a score of
1.9. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share the top score of 9.6.
TI Azerbaijan's Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC), indicated that most
of the corruption-related complaints filed by Azeri citizens concerned the
judiciary system. The problem also persists in the fields of education,
police bodies, executive authorities, and the allocation of pensions, the
group said.
Azeri political parties are the least corrupt, with no bribery observed
there, according to a monitoring conducted by ALAC over 18 months. The
assessment also revealed that citizens are not resisting corruption enough.
ALAC indicated that at times citizens are affected by corrupt practices
without even knowing this. In addition to that, in some cases citizens
themselves are interested in giving bribes due to obstacles posed by red
tape. Law enforcement bodies often fail to address citizens' complaints over
this or their replies are rather questionable, the organization found.
However, the Social Security Fund, the Ministries of Health, Labor and
Social Security and Education mostly respond to such appeals and solve the
outstanding problems, ALAC said.
The head of the President's Office department on work with law-enforcement
bodies, Fuad Alasgarov, said the Azerbaijani government welcomes the
assessment.
"However, if the work done in the past two years to combat corruption had
been included in the report, we would have received a higher score," he
said.
Although Alasgarov mentioned that Azerbaijan improved by 11 points,
Transparency Azerbaijan Executive Director Safaraliyeva that only a
three-point improvement was achieved, given that the number of countries
being assessed increased by four to reach 163 this year.
The Index points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty,
with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.
Almost three-quarters of the countries in the CPI score below five,
including all low-income countries and all but two African states.
"Corruption traps millions in poverty," said Transparency International
Chair Huguette Labelle. "Despite a decade of progress in establishing
anti-corruption laws and regulations, today's results indicate that much
remains to be done before we see meaningful improvements in the lives of the
world's poorest citizens."
Countries with a significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption
include Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago,
Tunisia and the United States.
Countries with a significant improvement include Algeria, Czech Republic,
India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey,
Turkmenistan and Uruguay.
While the industrialized countries score relatively high on the CPI 2006,
major corruption scandals persist in many of these countries.*
Azerbaijan ranks 130th out of 163 countries on corruption and 14th among
Eastern European states, international watchdog Transparency International
has said.
Transparency Azerbaijan Executive Director Rena Safaraliyeva regarded this
as a high indicator for the country. Azerbaijan is ahead of some other
former Soviet republics, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Belarus and Uzbekistan, she said.
The rating marks an improvement compared to the group's feedback issued in
October 2005, when Azerbaijan was rated 137th out of 159 countries on
corruption levels.
Neighboring Armenia and Georgia were rated 93rd and 99th respectively.
Corruption levels in Georgia went down, while the situation in Armenia
worsened.
The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, released on Monday, draws on multiple
expert opinion surveys that poll perceptions of public sector corruption in
163 countries, the greatest scope of any CPI to date. It scores countries on
a scale from zero to ten, with zero indicating high levels of perceived
corruption and ten indicating low levels of perceived corruption.
Seventy-one countries - nearly half - score below three, indicating that
corruption is perceived as rampant. Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8.
Guinea, Iraq and Myanmar share the penultimate slot, each with a score of
1.9. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share the top score of 9.6.
TI Azerbaijan's Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC), indicated that most
of the corruption-related complaints filed by Azeri citizens concerned the
judiciary system. The problem also persists in the fields of education,
police bodies, executive authorities, and the allocation of pensions, the
group said.
Azeri political parties are the least corrupt, with no bribery observed
there, according to a monitoring conducted by ALAC over 18 months. The
assessment also revealed that citizens are not resisting corruption enough.
ALAC indicated that at times citizens are affected by corrupt practices
without even knowing this. In addition to that, in some cases citizens
themselves are interested in giving bribes due to obstacles posed by red
tape. Law enforcement bodies often fail to address citizens' complaints over
this or their replies are rather questionable, the organization found.
However, the Social Security Fund, the Ministries of Health, Labor and
Social Security and Education mostly respond to such appeals and solve the
outstanding problems, ALAC said.
The head of the President's Office department on work with law-enforcement
bodies, Fuad Alasgarov, said the Azerbaijani government welcomes the
assessment.
"However, if the work done in the past two years to combat corruption had
been included in the report, we would have received a higher score," he
said.
Although Alasgarov mentioned that Azerbaijan improved by 11 points,
Transparency Azerbaijan Executive Director Safaraliyeva that only a
three-point improvement was achieved, given that the number of countries
being assessed increased by four to reach 163 this year.
The Index points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty,
with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.
Almost three-quarters of the countries in the CPI score below five,
including all low-income countries and all but two African states.
"Corruption traps millions in poverty," said Transparency International
Chair Huguette Labelle. "Despite a decade of progress in establishing
anti-corruption laws and regulations, today's results indicate that much
remains to be done before we see meaningful improvements in the lives of the
world's poorest citizens."
Countries with a significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption
include Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Jordan, Laos, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago,
Tunisia and the United States.
Countries with a significant improvement include Algeria, Czech Republic,
India, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey,
Turkmenistan and Uruguay.
While the industrialized countries score relatively high on the CPI 2006,
major corruption scandals persist in many of these countries.*
# posted by Trafton @ 11:45 PM 
