Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives

Corruption has been seen as inevitable – unpleasant and unethical, but probably unavoidable. Now, however, it is increasingly being challenged as unacceptable across Asia and the Pacific. In the process, eliminating corruption that plagues people’s daily lives must become a priority: widespread malfeasance corrodes health care, education and public utilities across Asia and the Pacific. Blatant injustice occurs through corrupt police and courts. Cross border corruption, propelled by transnational businesses, plunders forests and depletes other scarce natural resources. This Asia-Pacific Human Development Report shows how everyone eventually loses with corruption – focusing on why it hurts the poor the most, and on what can be done. Now is the time to seize the moment, to combine pressure from above, in government as well as the private sector, with the voice of the people from below.