G7 urged to do more to protect civic space and enable anti-corruption efforts

Ahead of the G7 meeting in June this year, international civil society met this week at the C7 Summit. As the official engagement group of the G7, C7 brings together about 500 civil society representatives from over 40 countries across the world. In its C7 Communiqué delivered to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose government currently holds the G7 presidency, they outlined civil society’s proposed priority areas of action and called to strengthen multilateralism, establish comprehensive beneficial ownership registers and protect civic space.

Daniel Eriksson, CEO of Transparency International, said after the Summit:

“The G7 must support civil society so they can deliver on their promise of a more just and equitable world. When authoritarianism takes control into the hands of a few, social movements are the last remaining check on power – but they are struggling.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February helped the world to finally see the devastating impacts of unchecked corruption and illicit financial flows. But civil society had been warning of these dangers for years, proving once again that they have a critical role to play in global governance and that the leading countries should pay attention to their proposals. As G7 nations direct their efforts to target the assets of Russia’s kleptocrats, they should also heed civil society’s call to set up a permanent international body to facilitate investigations of cross-border corruption, money laundering and other financial crimes.”

Transparency International Germany serves as a co-leader of the C7 Open Societies working group, and called on the G7 to protect civil society and independent media globally to enable the fight against authoritarianism and corruption.