15th International Anti-Corruption Conference closes with an urgent call to end impunity
The need to fight impunity was stressed at the closing session of the 15th International Anti-Corruption Conference, which called for the promotion of a culture of transparency leading to a participatory society in which leaders are accountable.
The 15th biennial International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) brought together more than 1900 representatives from the public, private and non-profit sectors from 140 countries.
With the theme Mobilising People: Connecting Agents of Change, the conference explored five key global challenges: ending impunity, clean climate governance, preventing illicit financial flows, political transitions leading to stable and transparent governments and clean sports.
Over 50 sessions looked for new ways to connect citizens to hold leaders of both the public and private sector to account, with special emphasis on using new technologies, social media, as well as supporting younger generations.
“The last four days of vigorous debate spurred fresh enthusiasm for the fight against corruption, and renewed our determination to stamp out the impunity that aids and abets corruption in all walks of government and business,” said the Hon. Justice Barry O’Keefe, chair of the International Anti-Corruption Council.
“The IACC has always been a much-anticipated global conference and we are proud to have hosted it in Brazil. We have in these 4 days of work (1,900 experts from 140 countries) learnt from each other‘s best practices and discussed ideas and viable solutions to combat and prevent corruption. Brasilia has thus become the world capital of the fight against corruption,” said Minister Jorge Hage Comptroller General in Brazil.
Brazil‘s President Dilma Rousseff opened the Conference. Minister Jorge Hage Sobrinho, Comptroller General of Brazil, Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira and Justice Minister José Eduardo Martins Cardoso also addressed the Conference. Other prominent speakers included Nobel Prize winner Tawakkol Karman, Richard Goldstone, Baltasar Garzón and Misha Glenny, author of the book on organised crime McMafia.
Under the IACC Game Changers Initiative, the conference invited 23 young journalists, from Tunisia to Nepal, to cover the 15th IACC as part of the Young Journalists’ Initiative. Their stories can be read here. It also called on 25 developers to hold a four-day hackathon and develop new tools to help activists fight corruption. In addition, the Initiative awarded six 5000 euro grants to bring innovative anti-corruption projects to life.
The IACC, first held in 1983, has evolved into the leading global forum on governance and anti-corruption. The conference fosters cooperation and innovation in developing tools to tackle corruption in government, business and society. The 15th IACC was organized by the IACC Council in cooperation with Transparency International, Amarribo, Instituto Ethos, and was generously hosted by the Government of Brazil and the Office of the Comptroller General of Brazil.
The IACC Council expressed sincere appreciation to Senegal for its efforts to combat corruption and its interest in hosting the IACC conference in the future.
The 16th IACC will be held in Tunisia in 2014. Deputy Prime Minister Ladgham of Tunisia attended the conference.
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