UN chief addresses issues of corruption

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday addressed in a speech the important issues of corruption and accountability in order to obtain any possible sustainable global future.

"The issue of corruption and accountability was very much with me in Tokyo," he said in a statement. The UN chief attended an international conference on the development in Afghanistan in Tokyo on Sunday, where he met with world leaders to ensure their continued support for the country. In the conference UN member states pledge over 16 billion dollars for Afghanistan.

He also noted that while the support for Afghanistan is pouring in, the country still faces challenges ahead.

"Afghanistan has many challenges that we are determined to overcome," he said. "Sadly corruption is one of them."

In his speech, the UN chief said that corruption hinders the " ability of a nation to prosper and to grow," stressing that this issue is not only faced by the government of Afghanistan, but by many others as well.

"But this is not just a problem for Afghanistan -- far from it, " he said. "It occurs in every country, in every region -- usually the people with the least power bear the greatest cost."

Further in his speech, the UN chief stressed that peace, development and human rights cannot develop when there's a continued atmosphere of corruption. "Last year, corruption prevented 30 percent of all development assistance from reaching its final destination," he said. "We cannot let it persist."

The UN chief also noted that the UN Convention against Corruption's Peer Review Mechanism is set to monitor and eradicate what he called a "disease," from governments around the world. ?

"Let us move further," he said. "Let us forge strong links with the private sector, civil society, education, the media, women and young people to build cultures of integrity."