In two major addresses at the United Nations in New York last week, President Obama raised a pair of issues that are vitally important and inextricably linked. First, at the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit on September 22, the president spoke out on corruption, calling it the "single greatest barrier to prosperity" and "a profound violation of human rights." Then, at the UN General Assembly the following day, he pointed not only to "corruption smothering entrepreneurship" but also to "crackdowns on civil society" and "democratic reforms deferred indefinitely."
Describing civil society as "the conscience of our communities," he declared that it is time "to embrace and effectively monitor norms that advance the rights of civil society and guarantee its expansion within and across borders."
The president's call for action against corruption and to protect civil society is an important and timely linkage. It recognizes that governments will not be held accountable and corruption will persist until civil society has the necessary political autonomy -- and access to information -- to safely share its views and advocate reform.
Around the world, many local Transparency International chapters have met with bureaucratic harassment, libel lawsuits and even physical violence in their attempts to address corruption and promote government accountability. The threats are also a reality for advocates of human rights, the Millennium Development Goals, the responsible use of natural resources and many other issues. NGOs have a long history of cooperating to protect colleagues under attack. We need to do more collectively to roll back the tide of antipathy. Securing the Administration's support is a great step forward. Secretary of State Clinton, in her address to the Community of Democracies in Poland this summer, described civil society as "essential to political and economic progress" and asked her audience to:
Think for a moment about the civil society activists around the world who have recently been harassed, censored, cut off from funding, arrested, prosecuted, even killed. Why did they provoke such persecution? Some of them were exposing problems like corruption that their own governments claim they want to root out.
Just as US leadership has been vital to the anti-corruption agenda, so it is for the support and protection of civil society. Secretary Clinton announced a new fund and other steps to do just that:
When NGOs come under threat, we should provide protection where we can, and amplify the voices of activists by meeting with them publicly at home and abroad, and citing their work in what we say and do.
US action will set an important example. But concerted global action is also needed. The Administration's new US Global Development Policy should help ensure that other governments and multilateral development assistance agencies accord the same regard for civil society as we do.