The Annual Membership Meeting (AMM) of Transparency International (TI), which was held in Athens, Greece, on Wednesday, condemned the rising incidence of threats against anti-corruption advocates, including the bombing of the home of a TI national chapter director in Sri Lanka J.C. Weliamuna.AMM, in a resolution, strongly condemned the growing hostile environment, including physical threats and intimidation in which anti-corruption advocates in various parts of the world are operating.
Concerned with the risks that anti-corruption advocates are faced with the participants said they are determined to meet these challenges by taking all measures in their reach to protect corruption fighters at national and international level.
The meeting condemned threats to the security of anti-corruption advocates as a violation of their fundamental human rights. It called upon all Governments to uphold their commitments under the UN human rights instruments, specifically under the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, to prevent such violations; and according to Article 13 of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) to promote the participation of civil society in the prevention of, and fight against, corruption.
Participants also called upon Governments to ensure that proper investigative and judicial measures are undertaken, to bring perpetrators of threats and attacks to justice.
The AMM commended the recent initiative by TI and the Coalition of Civil Society Friends of the UNCAC to strengthen the protection of anti-corruption advocates and emphasized the need for strong and prompt action. The delegates called upon all concerned stakeholders to actively support the development of tools, processes and institutional capacities to ensure that anti-corruption advocates can operate in a safe environment and respond to threats and attacks against them promptly and effectively.
The statement was one of four resolutions approved by delegates from over 90 TI national chapters and individual members of TI. Two further resolutions laid out positions on the unfolding global financial crisis and the backtracking of the South Korean gvernment on previously exemplary anti-corruption commitments.
With around three-hundred attendees, the 2008 Annual Membership Meeting in Athens was the largest to-date for TI, which celebrated its 15th Anniversary during the meeting.