Akere T. Muna, founder and president of Transparency International Cameroon, Vice-Chair of TI and President of the African Lawyers Association, was declared Cameroon’s Man of the Year 2005 on 8 April. At the ceremony, Muna reiterated the importance of repatriating Cameroon’s stolen assets and investing it in projects for the well-being of the people.

TI Secretariat released a Working Paper on Corruption in Humanitarian Aid, addressing why aid is at risk from corruption and what can be done to minimise that risk. It concludes with suggestions for further investigation and action. Particular issues include risk assessments, accurate targeting and distribution of aid, effective monitoring and evaluation, and ensuring access to information about humanitarian aid programmes. See: www.transparency.org/policy_research/policy_working_paper.

The application of public procurement rules at the provincial level was a main recommendation of February’s International Workshop on the Transparent Utilisation of Earthquake Reconstruction Funds in Islamabad, organised by TI Pakistan and TI Secretariat. The rules include use of Integrity Pacts to ensure transparency in procurement. Although the rules have been in place at the federal level since 2004, TI stressed that adoption at the provincial level was crucial, because that is where reconstruction funds are administered. The Prime Minister of Pakistan issued a directive on 24 April to Pakistan’s four provinces to adopt the rules. For further information, contact Syed Adil Gilani of TI Pakistan at adil.gilani@gmail.com, or Nikola Sandoval at the TI Secretariat at nsandoval@transparency.org.

TI Germany launched the German version of the Global Corruption Report 2006 on 16 May. It includes an additional reprot on corruption in the health care sector in Germany and a comparative analysis of Germany with Austria and Switzerland, as well as full translation of the Report. The release coincides with the German government's health care reform process, and the chapter used the opportunity to push for adoption of the Report's concrete recommendations.Jahrbuch Korruption 2006, Schwerpunkt: Korruption im Gesundheitssektor is available from Parthas Publishers at: www.parthasverlag.de/?bid=132&PHPSESSID=6993b51c248a5ce4275b72708947aa67.

The TI Secretariat, together with Transparency International Indonesia will host the Asia-EU Regional workshop on Promoting Transparency and Accountability of Local Governments and Deterring Corruption in Public Contracting and Procurement in Bali, Indonesia from 28- 29 June 2006. For more information on the regional workshop, its porgram, and the project Preventing Corruption in Public Contracting: Capacity Building and Networking for Civil Society and Local Governments in Asia, go to: www.transparency.org/regional_pages/asia_pacific

On its 10th anniversary, TI Morocco organised a May conference with experts from the health sector and civil society, and special guest Huguette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International. It included two roundtable discussions, the first on access to health care and corruption in the Moroccan health system, the second on integrity and reforms in the judiciary. The conference also featured a discussion on “The fight against corruption: imperatives of good governance and requirements of international conventions”, chaired by Dr Labelle.

The Jordan Transparency Forum (JTF) has published a survey on bribery in Jordan, revealing that eight percent of those surveyed paid bribes more than once, sometimes as much as thousands of Jordanian dinars. The survey, conducted in cooperation with the Arab Archives Institute, was launched at a conference that focused on the promotion of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) in the Middle East and North Africa region. Organised by TI and JTF, the event was covered by Al-Jazeera television and by major Jordanian television networks, alerting the public to the upcoming UNCAC Conference of States Parties and Forum for the Future conference. JTF has established a six-month action plan to push for the implementation of UNCAC provisions at the national level, including discussions with the Jordanian Parliament on the need for an independent anti-corruption commission.

Transparência Brazil recently launched two new tools: a multiple search engine and an additional service of their daily corruption news. Multibusca, the innovative new search engine designed to collect information on people and corporations related to corruption, collects information from 17 databases and presents the outcomes in one overall result.

The “Deu no Jornal” Project, or daily news on corruption, provides a new service that establishes relationships between people in the public eye, such as judges or politicians, and issues linked to corruption, using news articles included in “Deu no Jornal”. Expressed in the form of a map, the tool illustrates the relations between people mentioned in more than 90 thousand press clippings gathered by the project. For more information, see: www.transparencia.org.br

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organised a May seminar in Quito, Ecuador, on the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). The goal was to promote the adaptation of current Ecuadorian penal/criminal legislation to the standards established by UNCAC. Along with presentations by Dr. Dimitri Vlasissis and Dr. Sandra Valle, respectively Director and Inter-regional Advisor of UNODC, TI’s chapter in Ecuador, the Corporación Latinomericana para el Desarrollo, gave a presentation on Penal and Criminal Code Legal Reforms. For more information please contact atobar@cld.org.ec.

In a statement last month to the national media, Etica y Transparencia, TI’s chapter in formation in Nicaragua, publicly rejected foreign interference in the presidential elections to be held in November. According to the group, unwelcome involvement of foreign government representatives includes financial support to specific candidates as well as public declaration of their preferred electoral candidate. Visit www.eyt.org.ni for more information.

Over 35,000 people took to the streets of Asunción, Paraguay, on 29 March to call for the resignation of five members of the Supreme Court of Justice. Through their role on the Court, the five justices made it possible for President Nicanor Duarte Frutos to become the president of his political party - Partido Colorado.This allegedly violated the constitution of Paraguay, which states that the head of state may not hold another position, and led many to questionthe independence of the judiciary. Transparencia Paraguay was a leading member of the group that organised the demonstration. As a result, members of Congress pressed for prosecution of the five justices.

In April, TI Fiji launched its Transparency Committment Survey and invited the seven main political parties running in the may general elections to respond to a questionnaire on their commitment to maintain transparency and anti-corruption initiatives in Fiji. Six of the seven parties responded, and the responses have been posted on TI Fiji's website at www.transparencyfiji.org. TI Fiji plans to monitor the actions of the new government against their commitments over the life of the next Parliament.

The Transparency through Awareness (TTA) Project, funded by the European Commission, concluded in May with recommendations to promote transparency in the management of European Union (EU) structural funds. Chapters in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia raised awareness of the issue, shared information and mobilised members of civil society to form multi-stakeholder coalitions. A new structural funds programming phase begins in 2007 and will decide where and how the next funds will be disbursed. Chapters presented final TTA recommendations at press conferences, workshops and roundtable events in May.

A project to promote the transparency of structural funds in Hungary, funded by the Hungarian National Development Office, also concluded. Recommendations were presented at a 5 May press conference by the press coordinator, Noemi Alexa, and TI Europe and Central Asia Director Miklos Marschall.

The Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA) organised a training workshop for journalists in February on access to information, together with the TI Secretariat and the civil society organisation Article 19. The workshop was designed to educate and inform journalists on the concepts, theory and practice of access to information legislation, while providing examples of how such laws have been introduced and practiced in other countries.

The Water Integrity Network, an initiative to combat corruption in the water sector, met in Berlin on 8-9 May to reach agreement on its activities, its governance and the funding required. WIN aims to establish an anti-corruption coalition for the water resources and service management sector, an area where TI has already made advances through its national chapters in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Pakistan. Attending were representatives of the interim steering committee members, including the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme, the International Water and Sanitation Centre, located in the Netherlands, the Swedish International Water Institute, the Swedish Water and House Department and TI Secretariat. WIN will be officially launched at World Water Week in Stockholm in August.

The Russian Federation deposited its instrument of ratification of the United National Convention against Corruption on 9 May, bringing to three the number of members of the Group of Eight nations to have ratified: France, UK, and Russia. There are now 52 ratifications and accessions, and 140 signatory countries. The Conference of States Parties will take place in the first week of December, likely in Amman, Jordan. To see the list of ratifications, go to www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_signatures_corruption.html