I wrote this article for CPJ after co-organizing a panel session at the civil society forum on closing space for media and civil society. Corruption is one of the most dangerous beats for journalists, and one of the most important for holding those in power to account. There is growing international recognition that corruption is also one of the biggest impediments to poverty reduction and good governance. This is why journalists on this beat must be protected, including by multilateral lending institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which just concluded their annual meetings in Washington D.C. And this is why CPJ joined a call earlier in the year with other civil society groups to call on the World Bank to adopt a human rights policy.

At a civil society forum on the sidelines of the meetings last week, World Bank President Jim Young Kim and IMF President Christine Lagarde, leaders of two of the world’s most important lenders to poor countries, cited concern over corruption and the damaging impact that tax evasion has on poverty alleviation. But with recipient countries often ranking among the more corrupt and least accountable, the issue of who pays taxes and where the money goes is often buried in secrecy.

Read the full article here and watch the panel discussion Combatting Corruption in Closing Spaces: Implications for Governance below.