State Department leaders on Thursday, December 7, honored individuals who have been recognized by the State Department as global leaders in the fight against corruption. This is stated in a message published on the department’s website.
“Corruption allows unscrupulous officials to remain in power, slows development, promotes crime, and ensures an unequal distribution of resources that can disproportionately affect…vulnerable populations. For these reasons, the Biden-Harris Administration has launched and is now implementing the first anti-corruption strategy in American history,” said Todd Robinson, Under Secretary of State and Chief of the Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement.
The 2023 honorees include Moldova’s Justice Minister Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, who has launched numerous transparency initiatives as part of a broader effort to eliminate corruption from Moldova’s judicial and procedural systems; Belarusian journalist Stanislav Ivashkevich, who not only dedicated himself to independent journalism in Belarus, but also fought against corruption in government and business, despite strong pressure from the authorities.
Also on the list was journalist Ali Totakunov, known as one of the most effective fighters against corruption in Kyrgyzstan. Ali’s work – first as a correspondent for Radio Liberty and then running the independent news outlet MediaHub – brought him legal victories, but it came at a cost, including lawsuits, cyberattacks, harassment and even actual death threats.
The 2023 winners also include Jean-Claude Mputu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Arturo Torres of Ecuador, Nikhil Day of India, Mark Colley of Liberia, Vladimir Novovich of Montenegro, Annette Planells of Panama, Francisco Belo Simoes da Costa of Timor Oriental. and May De Silva of Seychelles.
“Fighting corruption requires courage, intelligence and perseverance on the part of many stakeholders, and each year the State Department seeks examples like this. And every year we find many examples of people stepping up to address corruption,” said Todd Robinson.
