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CORRUPTION: The Poor Take the Brunt
By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Feb 14 (IPS) - Poor people are the intended beneficiaries of a
large proportion of public policies. They are also those who suffer most
from the harmful effects of corruption, according to experts gathered in
the Venezuelan capital for a symposium hosted by Transparency
International (TI) and its national branch in this country.
"Corruption traps millions in poverty, despite a decade of progress in
establishing anti-corruption laws and regulations," and some countries'
ability to fight it has significantly fallen, said TI's Chair, Huguette
Labelle of Canada.
The meeting is being held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the
adoption in Caracas of the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption
(IACAC), a Venezuelan proposal that was signed on Mar. 29, 1996 by the
other 33 countries that make up the Organisation of American States (OAS).
Labelle said that in one country which would remain nameless, household
income in 2005 averaged about 250 dollars a month, but people had to spend
40 percent of that on bribes so that their children could attend school or
go to the hospital, or to obtain a permit to start up a small business.
In Labelle's opinion, it is clear that those most affected by corruption
are the poor, and that it undermines the foundations of democracy,
whatever the state's tax revenues. The more government corruption there
is, the more poverty, she said.
The meeting on "Consolidating Change: the Inter-American Convention
Against Corruption in its Second Decade", is being held from Monday
through Wednesday.
Argentine lawyer Carlos Manfroni, who participated in drafting the IACAC,
said that the worst kind of corruption remained hidden from public
scrutiny. The big cases are brought to light, he said, but the worst kind
is carried on by an overwhelming mass of people on the middle and lower
rungs of the administrative hierarchy, who perpetuate it endlessly.
For example, he cited bribes for getting contraband goods through on a
daily basis, or to "oil the wheels" of administrative red tape,
overcharging for goods, or to accelerate or delay action on legal cases.
In Latin America, bribing and administrative fraud occurs to a shameful
extent, Manfroni said.
TI's 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index on 163 countries placed Haiti, the
poorest country in the Americas, in 163rd place (most corrupt). Ecuador
and Venezuela shared 138th place, Argentina ranked 93rd, Brazil and Mexico
70th, Uruguay 28th, and Chile and the United States 20th.
The IACAC was the first international legal instrument against corruption
to be signed anywhere in the world. It commits states parties to adopt
"standards of conduct for the correct, honourable and proper fulfilment of
public functions."
It calls for "deterrents to the bribery of domestic and foreign government
officials," and "mechanisms to encourage participation by civil society
and nongovernmental organisations in efforts to prevent corruption."
Instruments like the IACAC or TI's annual corruption index "are useful
tools, as conceptual and practical frameworks to guide public policies and
governments in the paths of probity," Argentine activist Carlos March of
the Avina Foundation, which promotes sustainable development in Latin
America, told IPS.
"But we mustn't be ingenuous: instruments like the IACAC are political
agreements, signed by some people who are heavily tainted by corruption,
as was the case with former Argentine President Carlos Menem (1989-1999),"
March said.
What can be done? In March's view there are two approaches, the first
being to get involved in the process of the transformation of the state,
"to return institutions captured by politicians, sectoral or corporative
interests, back to society where they belong."
March referred to his own country, Argentina, to stress that the public
agenda "has been defined by the same people, politicians, employers and
unions, for the last four decades."
"And although the poor suffer the worst effects of corruption, civil
society and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) must 'get their hands
dirty,' take calculated risks and participate in politics at local and
provincial levels, in order to understand the logic of the political
system that gives rise to corruption," he said.
Many politicians with responsibility at the national level who have
condoned corruption, whether by omission or commission, came up through
the ranks as local or provincial administrators of public policies, the
expert said.
"Ordinary citizens must take back their rightful power, and continuously
monitor public affairs in the communities where they live and work," said
Eduardo Bertoni, of the Washington-based Due Process of Law Foundation.
Laws to guarantee access by private individuals to public information are
required. These have been adopted so far by a dozen countries in the
Americas. "Citizens need to be able to find out how a school or a factory
that is planned for their community is going to work," Bertoni told IPS.
According to Labelle, combating corruption requires strong and independent
institutions, and educating people from school-age on. And it is necessary
to tell stories about how people are affected by corruption.
Her warnings about the dangers of enrichment by officials were aptly
spoken in this oil-producing country which is enjoying an oil income four
times the size of what it received at the end of the 1990s.
Previous observations by TI have been ignored by the Venezuelan
authorities, in the context of the acute political conflict during the
last decade. Chief Public Prosecutor Isaías Rodríguez, president of the
Citizen's Power branch of government which also includes the Offices of
the Comptroller General and the Ombudsman, did not attend the symposium.
Organisations like TI should honour their name by perfecting the
measurements they use to evaluate corruption in over 160 countries, the
prosecutor said in a written statement.
Rodríguez added that lists like the TI index are usually used against
countries that do not belong to the large international financial or
diplomatic organisations, which are normally sources of funding for many
NGOs working on these important ethical issues.
Mercedes De Freitas, of TI-Venezuela, said that the symposium was aimed at
reducing the risks of corruption, and converting into reality some of the
speeches on the issue being made in the public sector - a reference to
promises by President Hugo Chávez to combat "inefficiency, bureaucracy and
corruption."
(END/2007)
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