Explaining the role of international organizations in fighting corruption, a case study of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

M.A. Thesis

Trend: Human Resources

Abstract

Due to the transnational and international nature of the issue of corruption and fighting it, many measures have been taken at the international and regional level to fight this phenomenon. Meanwhile, the role of the United Nations and its members is very decisive. This organization can be very effective, efficient and effective in helping member countries to prevent administrative corruption, promote health and transparency. Among the important pillars of the United Nations is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which has a branch in Iran and, based on its constitution, deals with corruption at the national, regional and international levels.

The purpose of this research is to understand the role of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in fighting corruption, in order to benefit from the strategies and experiences of this office to fight corruption in Iran. In the theoretical foundations of the research, the literature of corruption, corruption from the point of view of the United Nations Office on Narcotic Drugs and Crime and corruption in Iran have been discussed. Then, the results of the research conducted in the field of corruption and the United Nations Office against Narcotics and Crime have been introduced, although the results of the internal researches have focused more on corruption and its dimensions, and in foreign researches, which have mainly been published in the form of books, some of the actions of the United Nations Office against Narcotics and Crime have been introduced. The present research has been conducted using a descriptive method. Therefore, after defining the case study and its various aspects, the indicators used in the research have been determined in three areas (prevention, meditation and confrontation).

In summarizing the findings of the research, firstly, the introduction of the United Nations Office against Narcotics and Crime and the measures and strategies of this office has been discussed, and then the experiences of this office in countries in the field of fighting corruption have been stated. Drugs and crime of the United Nations, the lack of research related to the research topic, the limited time period for writing the thesis, etc.) shows that, for the implementation of the actions of the United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime, it is necessary to pay attention to the social, cultural, economic and political conditions and requirements of Iran, and the localization of the actions of this office is necessary to implement this; And in this way, the cooperation and participation of the people, the private sector and the civil society are essential.

Key words: corruption, prevention, monitoring, confrontation, United Nations Office against Drugs and Crime

1-1-     Introduction

Although corruption in the (general) sense has existed since the time of Prophet Adam (PBUH), but specific (administrative) corruption according to Mr. Alatas[1] since the time of Hammurabi, which means 1200 years before Christ. (Rafipour, 1386: p. 23). Theoretical discussions about corruption were seriously proposed in the 1950s, and from the 1970s, the first works and theoretical studies and empirical investigations about corruption and its causes were presented, and since then, the category of corruption has been raised as one of the most important discussions in the field of government, governance and development (Sadeghi et al., 2008: p. 2).

Increasing urbanization has also led to an increase in administrative bureaucracy in recent years, and this has paved the way for increasing Corruption has smoothed.

Increasing urbanization causes an increase in bribes in paying taxes, bribes for employment, bribes for work stoppage contracts, bribes for obtaining licenses for economic activities and so on. It is specific to urban areas (Sadeghi et al., 2008: p. 7).

For this reason, in all countries, laws are enacted to deal with corruption and they are trying to deal with it (Jabaripour, 2019: p. 1).

In the general policies overseeing development programs, especially the fourth and fifth plans, announced by the Supreme Leader, the issue of dealing with corruption has been addressed in several paragraphs (Jabaripour, 1389, p.1).

However, Iran's situation in the field of fighting corruption in the world is not suitable.

In the field research conducted by one of the Iranian researchers to measure the perception of corruption from the point of view of the people, the following findings were obtained: while only 2% of the respondents believe that there is no financial corruption in our country, but 98% of the rest confirmed the existence of corruption in different sizes and levels (Rafipour, 1385, p.92).

While according to the statistics of Transparency International[2] in 2006, Iran ranks 105 among the countries of the world in terms of corruption perception index with a score of 3.1-3.2 out of 10.

While according to the statistics of Transparency International[2] in 2006, Iran was ranked 105th among countries in the world in terms of the corruption perception index with a score of 1.3-2.3 out of 10. In 2010, Iran was ranked 146th in the world with a score of 2.2. and in 2011 it has a score of 2.7 and is ranked 124th among 183 countries in the world; And in 2012, with a score of 2.8, it was ranked 133 out of 176 countries in the world.

Table 1-1: Corruption trend in Iran among other countries in terms of corruption perception index during the years 2004-2012

Year

2003

2004

2005

179

180

180

180

183

176

Score

(between 0 and 10)

3

9/2

9/2

7/2

168

146

120

133

                                        Source: Transparency International

Chart 1-1: Scores of Iran's Corruption Perception Index in the last decade

Statistics provided by international organizations, the state of corruption in Iran and it is even more regrettable that according to this report, the level of corruption in Iran during the past 9 years has been on a growing trend - which is in no way worthy of the name and Islamic civilization and culture of the country of Iran - (Tavakli, 2013) On the other hand, due to the extent of corruption in various countries (both developing and developed countries), international organizations have emerged to fight corruption (Albresht, 2006, p. 2) and have also taken measures. Among these organizations that have fought against corruption is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is one of the main pillars of the United Nations and is the only international organization in this field that has a branch in Iran. Corruption still exists in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 1-2- The importance and necessity of research The phenomenon of corruption, especially in today's world and especially in developing countries, has been raised as one of the most important obstacles to the progress of society. This phenomenon causes irreparable damage (such as the loss of the government's legitimacy) to the speed of movement of the society's development wheel and blocks and limits the path of development and progress (Zahedi et al., 1388: p. 2).

In Iran, administrative corruption was rampant, especially during the reign of Reza Shah, so that during his reign, 44 thousand documents were transferred to his name. Since the 1340s, when the government's income became more dependent on oil, and especially in the 1350s, when Iran's oil revenues almost quadrupled with the sudden increase in oil prices, administrative corruption began to spread. (Alwani et al., 1389, p. 6) so that from 1350 to 1357, 3,750 cases of gross abuse were filed in the Imperial Inspection alone (Hosseinian, 1384). With the victory of the Islamic Revolution, administrative and financial corruptions were reduced to a minimum and there were fewer corrupt agents. But unfortunately, with the passage of time, this ominous phenomenon reappeared, and now Iran, like other countries, is suffering from the disease of corruption, and its rate is increasing.