Countries’ response to Covid-19, their long-term development and the meeting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are all threatened by the “invisible infection” of corruption, the Commonwealth Secretary-General has warned. Speaking to the annual conference of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies (CCAICACB), Patricia Scotland laid bare the devastating impact criminal acts…
By: PATRICIA SCOTLAND (Commonwealth Secretary-General) Today I received a message from a parent. Her nine-year-old son, Oscar, had been sitting in his living room during the Covid-19 lockdown, watching coverage of protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in the United States. He was perplexed and sat glued to his television as…
By:PATRICIA SCOTLAND (Commonwealth Secretary-General) Waking up to screams, thuds, angry shouting and the sickening sound of someone crashing into a wall, a table, a door. This is the cruel reality of many children and young people across our Commonwealth. As economies, institutions and social welfare sectors continue to buckle under the strain of the unprecedented…
By PATRICIA SCOTLAND (Commonwealth Secretary-General) Today in India and Bangladesh, millions of people are hunkered down in shelters, many with masks on their faces – a chilling reminder of the COVID-19 outbreak that still grips the densely populated countries. Forced to flee their homes, families, some migrant workers who have only just arrived from the…
