The 14th IACC conference in Bangkok, Thailand

An empowered media empowers a powerless society.

For using so much of the word power in the statement above, I am sure it would be edited out in our editorial office.

But corruption is really about power and the power to take from.

Last night was the integrity awards night. It was a showcase of the bold, the mean and the dead. Bold because you have to really stand up for your rights to make change. Mean because you cannot be heard if you speak softly. Lastly, dead because they will be on to you until you are silenced.

Journalists are channels of citizens to a democratic, peaceful society that adheres to human rights. The decision a journalist make in releasing information – whatever the information is, to the public affects the choices the society make that eventually affect their lives. It also aids – whenever used sufficiently, politicians make decisions in the government for public.

It is indeed inspiring to note that one of the awardees of the Transparency International’s Integrity Award winners is a journalist. More so it was even overwhelming that most of the people attending the conference strongly believe in what journalists do.

But this blog post is not about a pat in the back on us journalists.

After participants gave their affirmation of their support for journalists, the speaker asked who believes that journalists should stop what they are doing… I saw one bold hand rise.

I am not here to point a finger nor malign the personality of the guy who raised his hand but this became a realization for me that of the 1167 participants of the conference, still 1 or 0.086% had a different view.

On a crazy arithmetic, the .086% of the world population, 6.88 billion according to the US Census Bureau, it may be translated that about 5 million persons do not believe in what journalists do. Whew! That’s a big number to defend from. No wonder journalists get killed.

Oftentimes, it is the love for the craft that journalists give their dedication. It is because they adhere to deliver truthful information to the society. It is because they want transparency. The only wealth journalists acquire is to see the society live the way it wants to be.

By being agents of transparency and truthful information, journalists help the society fight corruption. But, it should be a conscious effort of the society to make a stand in the fight.

From the show of hands, I am inspired.

Empower the media, empower the world.

Global Youth Anti-Corruption Network’s Joseph Mansilla just e-mailed me a link to the coolest visual tool to quantify links between corruption and other societal problems that I’ve seen this week. (Ricardo Valdes’ CPI+US Trafficking in Persons Report comes in close second).  Below is a still image from the highly interactive “Gapminder” graph that vividly depicts the positive correlation between poverty and corruption.  Click here to visit the interactive version.

So, what’s this all mean? Does corruption lead to poverty or does poverty cause corruption? Or, is the relationship more complicated than that?

That’s your cue: Let us know what YOU think by tweeting with the hashtag #14iacc.

- Jimmy

Corruption is the noun of action from the Latin word “corrumper”, which means to perish, ruin, destroy.

Judge Joachim Eckert, Presiding Judge Penal Court Munich, Germany

The ending of a war may not necessarily mean the finale to all its problems for post conflict nations, which are trying to pick up the pieces after a bloody battle. As one crisis after another continues to take toll on some of these nations, yet another fresh crisis is enveloping them – their vulnerability to organized crime.

We had the pleasure of talking to Dimitri Vlassis, Chief of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, during a meeting with the social media unit held on the sidelines of the 14th IACC. He conceded that post conflict nations are absolutely more vulnerable to organized crime. “Organized crime develops, if not already present, it evolves and thrives by absorbing elements of the combatants.”

Citing an example, despite the irony of it, Vlassis shared an experience of a particular post conflict nation, where a local group had begun to rent out an armored tank on a daily basis for anyone who wanted to use it for any purpose.

Vlassis in discussion with the IACC Young Journalists

Read more »

As the 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference is coming to end today, its conclusion is highly anticipated.

The conference itself has been a market of ideas and information which over 1,200 paricipants from more than 130 countries shared and exchanged.

The theme of this conference is “Restoring Trust: Global Acion for Transparency”. One of the issues that has been talked about widely in the corridors was that everybody should take part in this fight. Others have been the experiences of some promising ways to promote transparency such as by Thai anti-graft commission or examples of cooperation in the construction sector, and many more new ideas, problems or threats that need to be addressed.

As the word “corruption” itself has a vague meaning, to what extent will policy makers and practitioners  be able to bring their ideas and experience into actions? Read more »