Canadian Task Force Against Global Corruption

The bad governance that so 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. Furthermore, corruption discourages donors, compounding the difficulty in funding efforts to assist refugees and the internally displaced.

WRMC addressed the scourge of corruption in Un llamado a la acción: Transformar el sistema global de refugio, 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 proposed in the Frozen Assets Repurposing Act Bill now before the Canadian Senate.

WRMC has also become deeply involved in the global effort to promote the creation of an International Anti-Corruption Court (IACC) and succeeded in persuading both major political parties in Canada to include the proposal in their election platforms, as well as in the December 2021 Mandate Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Task Force has two key priorities:

• Promote the Foreign Assets Repurposing Act, which has now had a second reading as a private member’s bill in the Senate as a complement to existing Magnitsky legislation and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act.
• Advocate for the creation of the IACC in close collaboration with our US partner, Integrity Initiatives International.