New leadership at Transparency International
At this year’s annual membership meeting in Berlin, the Transparency International movement elected José Ugaz, a former president of the movement’s chapter in Peru and a leading anti-corruption lawyer, as the new chair.
This is the first time in the organisation’s 21-year history that a leader of one of Transparency International’s chapters has been chosen to lead the movement.
I know what corruption is and how to fight it. The corrupt need to see Transparency International as their biggest fear. Nobody is above the law."
– José Ugaz, chair, Transparency International
During his time as ad hoc attorney general in Peru Ugaz prosecuted hundreds of corrupt officials. Most notably, he was instrumental in the corruption case against the former president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence. In 2002 Ugaz was invited to assume the presidency of Proética, Transparency International’s chapter in Peru.
Elena Panfilova, the chair of Transparency International Russia, was elected as the vice-chair of the movement’s international board of directors.
– Elena Panfilova, vice-chair, Transparency International
A movement on the move
Transparency International is a global movement which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2013. It has more than 100 members across all continents, including chapters and organisations that are in the process of becoming chapters. It also has more than 90 Anti-Corruption and Legal Advice centres, run by chapters around the world, where ordinary people can ask for help when they face corruption in their lives.
The movement has developed a long-term strategy to increase its global voice against corruption and engage more people around the world in that fight.
José Ugaz stated his vision for the organisation is to maintain the influence the movement has in political decision-making spaces, but at the same time to use new ways to attract new audiences and learn to work better with the victims of corruption.
The No Impunity initiative is a good example of how Transparency International is trying to shine a spotlight on the corrupt with its Unmask the Corrupt campaign, he said.
Transparency International Resolutions
The more than 100 Transparency International chapters and individual members voted to pass three important resolutions that will see the movement tackle corruption at major corporations and in sport. The movement specifically called on FIFA, world football’s governing body, to publish its investigation into the decision to award the World Cup to Russia and Qatar.
The movement also recognised the severe problems that civil society faces around the world. The Transparency International movement called on governments to act now to safeguard the space for civil society in the fight against corruption and for basic rights to work free from fear, harassment and intimidation.
The full text of the resolutions is available here.
The list of new board of directors is available here.
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