Even before COVID-19 disrupted lives and economies, countries faced widespread cross-border corruption, tax evasion and other harmful tax practices. Sophisticated money-laundering complicated their efforts to recover the proceeds. These abuses threaten Governments’ ability to provide basic goods and services, and drain resources from sustainable development.

In these “normal” times the 74th President of the United Nations General Assembly and the 75th President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council jointly appointed us to chair the High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel). We firmly believe that the current crisis has made their initiative even more urgent. The pandemic has made it harder to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. It is more important than ever to step up our collective efforts against financial crime and tax abuses. The world can shift towards a more sustainable and resilient path. The FACTI Panel has identified gaps, impediments and vulnerabilities in the international system that allow abuses and related outflows. We take note of the many international instruments and initiatives to address financial accountability, transparency and integrity; but we also note that implementation has fallen short. In some cases, implementation has become a matter of ticking boxes, while in others even the ticks are missing. We can do better. Yet even perfect implementation would not solve all problems. Those intent on abusing tax and financial systems and avoiding rules and regulations would still have ample opportunity, and great reward for their efforts. We need to explore new and creative solutions to make systems more comprehensive and robust, and ultimately build a coherent ecosystem of institutions and frameworks for transparency, accountability and integrity.

Inadequate global governance holds back progress towards the common goal of sustainable development. The Panel finds that lack of trust and inclusivity pervades our systems, undermining implementation of existing rules and preventing better ones from being made. Countries must come together to agree on comprehensive solutions.
The issues at hand are global. They call for global cooperation and engagement by all stakeholders, including non-state actors as well as governments. The private sector, civil society and the media all have a contribution towards building peaceful and inclusive societies, with access to justice for all and accountable and inclusive
institutions at all levels. We urge all stakeholders to bring creative ideas and open minds to work with a common purpose on lasting solutions, which we can propose in the final report.