Fighting corruption is one of the main challenges for democracy in the Americas. Multiple cases of corruption at the national and transnational level demonstrate the serious impact corruption has on institutions, citizens trust, and the effective exercise of human rights. Furthermore, the growing deterioration of the democratic oversight mechanisms and the abuse of power have weakened checks and balances creating in some countries state capture schemes. To address this situation, in 2018 at the VIII Summit of the Americas governments of the region adopted the Lima Commitment “Democratic Governance against Corruption”. This instrument incorporated new and ambitious approaches to tackle corruption and renew the interest of several actors on addressing the problem key areas. This session will address the main advances and challenges in the implementation of the Lima Commitment, with emphasis on political financing, international cooperation to prosecute corruption, the impact of corruption in vulnerable groups, and the growing restrictions on civic space. Also, the session will focus on possible courses of action to effectively fight corruption and strengthen democratic governance in the region.
AGENDA
Moderator: Gerardo Andrés Hernández Montes, Executive director TI Colombia
DISCUSSION PANEL
Enrique Arturo de Obarrio, General Coordinador, REDLAD
Pablo Secchi, Executive director, TI Argentina
Maira Martini, Expert on illicit Financial Flows, Transparency International Secretariat
Yimene Calderón, Executive Director, Ethnic Community Development Organization (ODECO in Spanish)
*English and Spanish interpretations will be available.