Dienstag, 25.01.2022 / 13:24 Uhr

Irak, Syrien und Iran gehören zu den korruptesten Ländern der Welt

Von
Thomas von der Osten-Sacken

Der neue Weltkorruptionsindex von Transparency International ist erschienen und bringt wenig überraschendes:

Iraq ranks as the joint tenth most corrupt nation in the world according to a new report released by Transparency International, marking a small improvement in the country's fight against domestic corruption out of 180 countries investigated.
 
In their 2021 corruption perception index (CPI) published on Tuesday, the Berlin-based NGO ranked the perceived levels of corruption in Iraq as equal to the levels of abuse of power for private gain in Zimbabwe, Cambodia, and Honduras. With a score of 23 out of 100, the nation has gained two points in the index over the last year and is subsequently up three places from the bottom of the table.
 
Despite this gain, Iraq still falls far below the global average of 43 and remains perceived as one of the most corrupt countries on earth, in a country plagued by corrosive principles of “wasta” (personal connections) and politicians who appear to serve themselves above their elected representatives.
 
Albeit minor, the improvement bucks the broader trend of a stagnating fight against corruption both regionally and globally. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has received the same average result for the fourth year in a row. Worldwide, 131 countries are assessed as having made no significant progress against corruption over the last decade.
 
Within the MENA territory specifically, Transparency International asserts that “the interests of a powerful few continue to dominate the political and private sphere, and the limitations placed on civil and political freedoms are blocking any significant progress.” 
 
Compared to the 2020 report, Syria has fallen one point to rank the joint second most corrupt country in the world, Iran has recorded the same score to come in at joint twelfth, and Turkey is two points lower than the previous year, ranking joint twenty-fifth most corrupt. Over the past decade, all three countries have seen their CPI scores fall, whilst Iraq has seen a cumulative five-point rise.