Canadian Task Force Against Global Corruption

Combatting Corruption Internationally: Repurposing Assets for the Forcibly Displaced

Bad governance that too often causes forced displacement is almost always associated with corruption. Grand corruption weakens and distracts governments, making it less likely that they will meet their responsibility to protect their own population. And the theft of international aid discourages donors, compounding the difficulty in funding efforts to assist refugees and the internally displaced.

The World Refugee & Migration Council (WRMC) addressed the scourge of corruption in A Call to Action: Transforming the Global Refugee System, stressing accountability and proposing that when stolen funds are found offshore, they ought not only to be frozen but also confiscated and re-purposed for the benefit of the displaced, as Canada has now done under its Special Economic Measures Act. That legislation is based on the proposed Frozen Assets Repurposing Act advanced by the WRMC with the Hon. Ratna Omidvar.

The Task Force has three key priorities:

Promote the repurposing of frozen and seized assets, including under Canada’s Special Economic Measures Act and its regulations, as a complement to existing Magnitsky legislation and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act.
Outline specific ways to effectively implement anti-corruption measures by strengthening existing frameworks and institutions under the principles of accountability and restorative justice. These measures will play an essential role in complementing the road to criminal prosecution of the perpetrators of grand corruption.
Support efforts to reform the international anti-corruption regime.