Name: Qatar hosts UN anticorruption conference amid global stability crisis
Uploaded: 2025-12-15T15:11:29.339Z
Duration: 2 min 33 s
Description: The UN says corruption costs the world economy trillions of dollars every year. State leaders and experts have gathered in Doha to discuss ways to prevent crimes linked to corruption.

The UN says corruption costs the world economy trillions of dollars every year. State leaders and experts have gathered in Doha to discuss ways to prevent crimes linked to corruption.

Doha

The United Nations estimates that corruption costs the global economy $5 trillion annually, accounting for 5% of worldwide GDP. At the UN Anti-Corruption Conference in Doha, experts and officials highlighted how corruption undermines governance, fuels conflict, and erodes public trust, with examples from Ukraine, Sudan, and Israel illustrating its far-reaching consequences.

The conference, described as the largest of its kind, is focused on fostering international cooperation to track economic crimes, enhance transparency in politics, and recover stolen assets. Participants emphasized that fighting corruption is a gradual process, requiring persistent global effort to protect public wealth and promote stability.

Qatar hosts UN anticorruption conference amid global stability crisis

Corruption, the U.N. says, costs an estimated $5 trillion every year, 5% of the world's gross domestic product, public wealth vanishing from the global economy through crimes like fraud, bribery and theft. Recognizing those who fight it helps to shine a light on what is perhaps the world's most expensive invisible crisis. It is a fight between good and bad. We will fight forever. We will continue our fight against corruption. Everyone will continue their fight against corruption in order to create a better future for coming generations. The message here, corruption is not a victimless crime and affects everybody. And scaled up, it can have far-reaching consequences. Ukraine is often cited as an example of how corruption can weaken governance during wartime. Since Russia's invasion, President Volodymyr Zelensky has sought reforms, prosecuting officials accused of embezzling military and humanitarian funds. But a backlash earlier this year triggered major protests in Kyiv with critics alleging selective justice and claiming Zelensky shielded his allies, accusations he denies. Sudan's government says the sale of stolen gold is helping the paramilitary rapid support forces bypass government oversight, enriching commanders and fueling the ongoing civil war, illicit sales being the currency of conflict, sustaining ongoing violence against civilians. Critics of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuse him of prolonging the war in Gaza to maintain the status of a wartime leader, saying that's helped him shift public attention away from ongoing corruption cases that could land him in prison. Most often corruption takes the form of a hospital that never gets built, the bridge that collapses, medicines that never reach the clinic, a warlord keeping his grip on power, rigged elections. Left unchecked, these kinds of things tend to widen inequality and erode public trust. Experts say every stolen dollar strengthens someone's grip on power and weakens government institutions over time. Fighting corruption is a long run. We will not win it by kilometers or by meters, we will win it by millimeters and you have to be ready for that. The UN Anti-Corruption Conference being held in Doha this week is the world's biggest gathering of its kind. With specific focus on cooperation to track economic crimes, improve transparency in politics and recover stolen assets. Zain Basravi, Al Jazeera, Doha.

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