Transparency and the Fight against Corruption with a view towards the IV Summit of the Americas

The IV Summit of the Americas will be held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from 4-5 November 2005 under the theme "Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strength Democratic Governance".

In this context, Transparency International believes it necessary to help shape the agenda with proposals that focus on transparency and the fight against corruption. We believe that such problems have a direct impact on ensuring the challenges posed by the fight against inequality, poverty and social exclusion are overcome, as well as decent jobs created, democratic governance strengthened, and human rights respected.

Social policies aimed at overcoming or reducing poverty are undermined directly by corruption, since fewer funds are thus available for social assistance and because they affect the functioning of the organisations responsible for resolving problems related to unemployment, health and education. Corruption constitutes a major obstacle to foreign investment and as such, adversely affects economic development and the positive effects that such development could have on job creation, consumption, etc.