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This area provides highlights of the valuable work of the anti-corruption movement, championing a world free of corruption. This month highlights the following stories: |
Guatemala to monitor upcoming elections
By Georg Neumann
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To enhance transparency in the country’s electoral processes, Accion Ciudadana, TI’s national chapter in formation in Guatemala, has launched a project in advance of the upcoming presidential elections in Guatemala in September. |
Accion Ciudadana will help political parties to develop strategic anti-corruption actions, and has invited parties to sign public commitments with civil society to ensure that their anti-corruption promises became concrete actions instead of only political discourses. To-date, two of the registered 16 political parties have done so.
In conjunction with this, the chapter has launched an electronic platform (www.informateyvota.com), where information from the political parties will be published to increase citizen access to this information and to hold political parties to their commitments. Also available on the new website, are qualitative indicators that help assess the institutional performance of political parties, including compliance with national rules and regulations for accountability in political finance and the information flow between parties and civil society.
As a result of the CRINIS project, Accion Ciudadana has developed indicators to measure the extent parties comply with the new law on Parties and Elections (from 2004) and the regulations issued by the electoral power for the upcoming elections. Three reports will be issued during the electoral campaign, allowing for parties to compete for transparency and improve their performance. In the first report, 10 of 16 political parties have inefficiently accomplished the law on transparency in finances referred to electoral campaigns.
Business Principles for Countering Bribery in the Arab region
By Georg Neumann
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Good practice for countering bribery in business in the Middle-East was the main topic of discussion during a Transparency International (TI) regional workshop organised by Schema, an advisory service on corporate governance, and supported by the United States Center for International Private Enterprise, which was held in Amman on 18 July. |
“Developing practices to build private sector integrity” was the second in a series of three workshops across North Africa and the Middle East that focussed on the private sector. Representatives came from Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Saudi Arabia. The workshop provided participants with a platform to examine issues related to the development and implementation of practical programmes for enhancing good governance and countering bribery. A key Transparency International initiative, the Business Principles for Countering Bribery were featured – providing a framework for good practice by companies in countering bribery that are supported by a suite of implementation tools.
As a direct result of the workshop, a working group consisting of representatives from various companies was formed. This group will work on private sector driven initiatives, with the long term goal of trying to get government regulation on corporate governance. TI will support this process and Schema has agreed to help organise the initiative.
Vienna Declaration: Civil society involvement builds trust in government institutions
By Georg Neumann
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The seventh United Nations Global Forum on Reinventing Government, focussing on how to build trust in government, took place from 26 to 29 June. The 2,000 delegates who attended this year’s forum in Vienna, Austria, agreed on a declaration stating that to secure the confidence of citizens in their governments, the state must be and be seen to be legitimate, fair and institutionally strong. |
The declaration also states that civil society must be empowered as a full partner in governance in order for trust to thrive in government institutions. It stresses that meaningful dialogue and regular face-to-face involvement in civil society organisations are the most direct and effective ways of building trust and trusting communities.
Transparency International was represented by its Chair Huguette Labelle who spoke at the plenary. Gillian Dell and David Koschel from the International Secretariat as well as Julieta Arias from Poder Ciudadano, TI’s national chapter in Argentina, organised a workshop looking into the critical role of civil society in holding governments to their commitments under the United Nations Convention against Corruption and public reporting.
For more information on the declaration, see www.7thglobalforum.org/Forum_Information/publications.htm.