TI Applauds the Guatemala Declaration and will follow up its implementation

The signing of the Guatemala Declaration for a Corruption Free Region by eight Central American Presidents and official representatives, reaffirms their will to advance effectively and decisively in the fight against corruption, civil society we will contribute to monitor its implementation, said the Transparency International (TI) national chapters and allied organizations in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

The Guatemala Declaration includes commitments oriented towards reaching concrete outcomes in the fight against corruption by 2010 in the Central American region. The Declaration was signed during the 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference taking place in Guatemala.

“We celebrate the renewal of the Presidential commitments and expect that the Guatemala Declaration becomes a tool that produces concrete transformations to overcome those problems that affect all citizens in our countries and that are being intensified by corruption,” said Manfredo Marroquín, Chairman of Accion Ciudadana, TI national chapter in Guatemala. “The Declaration reaffirms the region’s will to fight corruption and we express our support to governments in turning these commitments into concrete actions and produce outcomes by 2010,” added Marroquín.

With the Guatemala Declaration, the Chiefs of State and Government of the Central American Integration System (SICA) have emphasized the need for accountability mechanisms in public institutions, the effective and transparent management of social programs and funds, political and electoral financing controls, the promotion ethics in the private sector, the prevention and control of conflicts of interest in the public and private sectors, the persecution transnational corruption, and a need to foster reforms for transparent, strong and effective civil services.

The Declaration also promotes the strengthening of access to public information legal frameworks, for which TI has advocated. This is a clear message to countries like Honduras, Nicaragua or Guatemala that still lack laws that meet international standards in this area.

Transparency International highlighted some issues that were not included in the Declaration, mainly the strengthening of citizen participation in social audits as an essential tool to increase citizens’ trust in democratic institutions.

Finally, Transparency International invited governments to use this Declaration as a tool to foster the definition of sound national anti-corruption policies in each of their countries and to move forward in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption and the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.

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TI is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.

Note to editors:

TI national chapters and allied organizations in Central America (Acción Ciudadana – Guatemala; Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Libertad Ciudadana - Panama; Grupo Cívico Ética y Transparencia – Nicaragua; ACI-PARTICIPA – Honduras) and the Dominican Republic (Participación Ciudadana).

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