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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: |
Highlights from the TI movement in 2007
By Mike Sidwell
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Transparency International is coordinating a regional project to reduce corruption and ‘resource leakages’ in the primary education sector of seven African countries: Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda. TI national chapters or contract groups in these countries are engaged in an assessment process to identify the shortcomings and loopholes in the education financing systems that facilitate the development of corrupt practices and mismanagement. |
As the year draws to an end it is a chance not just to look ahead and prepare for the challenges and work that 2008 will bring, but to look back and take stock of the hard work and achievements accomplished by Transparency International and its chapters during 2007.
Dedicated efforts have seen anti-corruption and transparency be firmly put on national political agendas across the world. Among many others examples, TI France publicly engaged the presidential candidates on the issues, while Accion Ciudadana, TI’s national chapter in formation in Guatemala, and Poder Ciudadano, TI’s chapter in Argentina, were closely involved in monitoring the elections and raising awareness among the electorate. In an unprecedented move, TI Germany lodged a complaint with the German government requesting action to be taken against 57 German companies over the UN Oil for Food scandal in Iraq for violating the OECD Guidelines for Multinationals.
Not only has TI successfully highlighted anti-corruption efforts around the world, but the work of TI and chapters have received much well deserved recognition. In February, TI introduced a new website, The Central American Anti-Corruption Resource Network - Red Centroamericana de Recursos Anticorrupción (RECREA), providing an in-depth view of anti-corruption efforts in Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. TI Venezuela won the Changemakers’ “Ending Corruption: Honesty Instituted” competition for its long-running Municipios Transparentes (transparent municipalities) project.
Efforts to combat corruption have seen a large march against corruption organised by the chapter in the Dominican Republic (photo shown here), TI Sri Lanka introduce a telephone hotline service to report corruption, and TI Česká republika awarded responsibility for operating a trial hotline for the Czech Ministry of the Interior. Meanwhile, across in Africa, TI is coordinating, together with its chapters and contact groups, the ‘Africa Education Watch’ project aimed at reducing corruption and ‘resource leakages’ in the primary education sector in Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
Award for the best journalistic investigation on corruption in Latin America 2007
By Marta Erquicia
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On 27 November, TI celebrated in Montevideo, Uruguay the award ceremony for the 2007 Best Journalistic Investigation carried out on a corruption case in Latin America. The award was given to Lúcio Vaz of the Correio Braziliense who revealed corruption involving the diversion of millions in state funds for the fraudulent purchase of ambulances - one of the greatest cases of parliamentary corruption in the history of Brazil. |
The first prize was shared with a series of reportages carried out by 11 journalists of the Colombian magazine Semana concerning the gradual incursion of paramilitary groups in national politics.
The 2008 edition of the prize was launched 7 November 2007 by the organisers: the Press and Society Institute (IPYS) and Transparency International for Latin America and the Caribbean (TILAC). Through this prize, TI aspires to increase the quality of investigative journalism and to build a closer alliance with a key sector for the fight against corruption.
www.transparency.org./index.php/news_room/latest_news/press_releases/2007/2007_11_07_lima_berlin_eng
TI Morocco opens a national observatory on corruption and development
By Georg Neumann
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In November, TI’s national chapter in Morocco, l’Association marocaine de lutte contre la corruption Transparency Maroc, has launched its National Observatory on Corruption and Development. The Observatory aims at enforcing the right to information by providing citizens with high quality information. It additionally works to fight against corruption and to promote transparency and good governance in Morocco. |
An information system will help with processing, synthesising and passing the information on to relevant groups. Initially, on an experimental basis, the Observatory will give judicial assistance to corruption victims, and plans to produce a guide offering guidance, procedures and relevant addresses to the victims of corruption.
The publication Transparency News has been created to highlight the issues that are dealt with by the Observatory and will be based on the collected information. Every edition will focus on one topic. The first edition is concentrating on the evaluation of this year’s elections in Morocco, including a detailed analysis of the election process and the evaluation of the different parties.
The establishing of the institution follows Morocco’s ratification of the UN Convention against Corruption and just when the government is preparing an Action Plan related to the creation of a national anti-corruption agency. The project is supported by the Dutch embassy in Morocco.