New Delhi; December 18, 2021; UN GCNI organized a Fireside Chat titled “Corruption and Our Role: Reflections and Resolutions for the 2030 Agenda” observing the International Anti-Corruption Day (IACD) on 9th December 2021, with eminent experts from Business, Education, Gender, Sports, Health and Technology to discuss their roles in promoting anti-corruption as individuals, organizations and moreover collectively as a society. Over 400 participants registered and joined us in this discussion. This event was preceded by an awareness campaign from December 1, 2021 to December 9, 2021 titled – “Voice of Leaders on Fight against Corruption” in order to raise awareness against different forms of corruption across the sectors and encourage the leaders towards promoting integrity in business through collective action.
The panel discussion consisted of: Dr. Jatinder Singh, Assistant Secretary General, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Ms. Kritika Padode, Vice President, Public Relations, IFIM Institutions and Vijaybhoomi University, Ms. Sapna Kedia, Gender Specialist, ICRW (International Center for Research on Women, Mr. Vivek Mittal, Global General Counsel, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. and Ms. Manjusha Kanwar, DGM, Sports Coordination, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, who discussed the challenges of and solutions for corruption in areas of Business, Education, Gender Equality, Health and Sports respectively.
The discussion was moderated by Ms. Sunita Sule, Director, Corporate Affairs, South Asia, BASF and Chairperson, CEGET-GCNI Advisory Committee. Prior to start the panel discussion, she briefly talked about UN Global Compact Network India; she said that UN Global Compact Network India (UN GCNI) is dedicated to promoting transparency and ethical business practices, implementation of United Nations 10th Principles (Anti-Corruption) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India. Also, she shared that the Centre of Excellence for Governance, Ethics and Transparency (CEGET) at UN GCNI stands committed to the fight against corruption and enhances transparency and accountability among the key stakeholders from across the sectors.
Dr. Somnath Singh, Programme Manager, UN GCNI welcomed the speakers and participants and briefly shared about UNGC’s supported “Scaling-up Anti-Corruption Collective Action within the Global Compact Local Networks” project. Besides this, he has shared the initiatives and innovations that UN GCNI has taken to eradicate corruption across the sectors through responsible business practices and collective action.
Further, setting the context of the panel discussion, Dr. Somnath Singh said that Corruption impacts health, education, gender equality, justice, democracy, prosperity, and development as a whole. The attainment of Sustainable Development Goals is also affected due to corruption and since the whole planet will benefit from strong Anti- corruption efforts, we must speak about it. The 2021 International Anti-Corruption Day with its theme – “Your right, your role: Say no to Corruption” seeks to highlight the rights and responsibilities of everyone – including States, Government officials, civil servants, law enforcement officers, media representatives, the private sector, civil society organizations, academia, the public and youth – in tackling corruption. Therefore, individuals and leaders from all sectors need to speak up and say no to corruption.
Mr. Arya Dev, Programme Analyst, UN GCNI talked about Anti-Corruption Collective Action and disseminated UNGC’s Anti-Corruption Collective Action (ACCA) Playbook as a tool to address corruption challenges across the sectors through collective action.
As a build to the Fireside Chat, some prominent figures from diverse sectors gave their thoughts and opinions, which were relayed on social media during the Awareness Campaign run by UN GCNI from December 1, 2021 to December 9, 2021.
Some of the exclusive quotes are as follows:
“The menace of corruption has compounded in the post-covid world. Businesses need to stay vigilant and reassert their role as the vanguard of ethics and integrity to unlock progress towards UN SDGs. We must capitalize on our collective intelligence to create a culture of transparency and accountability through empowerment of employees and up-skilling of value chains.” – Mr. Subhash Kumar, CMD, ONGC and President, UN GCNI
‘Corruption can be most effectively tackled through collective-action, purposeful global-local cooperation and enhancing synergies between relevant multilateral organizations. On the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day 2021, UN GCNI reasserts its commitment to – promote sustainable governance, champion transparency in businesses, fight corruption and advocate responsible business practices.” – Ms. Shabnam Siddiqui, Executive Director, UN GCNI
“Centre of Excellence for Governance, Ethics and Transparency (CEGET) at UN Global Compact Network India (GCNI) is poised to promote Collective Action in Anti – Corruption in conjunction with the decade of ambitious action to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. We intend to continue being a sounding board as well as an advocate of ethics and integrity for businesses. International Anti-Corruption Day is an occasion to reaffirm our resolve to provide stakeholders with a laudable platform for dialogue on transparency issues and good governance.” – Ms. Sunita Sule, Director, Corporate Affairs, South Asia, BASF and Chair, CEGET– GCNI Advisory Committee.
“Corruption is abuse of power for personal gain. Corruption erodes trust, derails the economic development, and brings in poverty, inequality and social division. It is important to promote integrity, accountability and transparency for achieving fewer opportunities for corruption. All government departments, public and private entities need to establish appropriate governance framework in relation to corruption risk which includes ‘Tone at the Top’; ‘compliance policies & procedures’; ‘training and communication’; ‘monitoring of various activities’ and ‘appropriate response & remediation procedures’. ‘Say No to Corruption at all levels.” – Mr. J V Phani Kiran, Lead – Corporate Compliance, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.
“Yes, the fight against corruption can be won by playing an important role individually and cumulatively, saying NO TO CORRUPTION, and to say so is our Right! Let us make our commitment and efforts to move towards non-corrupt environment and bringing transparency in all our transactions with deep consciousness.” – Mr. Rajesh Chitre, Sub – Regional Compliance Officer South East Asia (North) + India, Merck Group
“Advocating similar rights for the citizens of all countries, let’s take a pledge on the eve of International Anti-Corruption Day that we will neither take or give bribe and encourage others to maintain transparency and a corruption free society.” – Mr. Alok Mathur, Head Operations, Unified Brainz Virtuoso Ltd.
“Corruption will never be transformed by keeping it hidden, but only by bringing it out into the light and confronting it with transparency ethics and good governance”—Dr. Somnath Singh, Programme Manager, UN Global Compact Network India.
