Visit http://www.14iacc.org to register online and start planning your trip to Bangkok. Press accreditation for the 14th IACC is available for journalists from all fields (print, online, TV, radio, web, and photographers). Those who receive press accreditation for the 14th IACC will not be subject to any fees! 

The speakers list for the 14th IACC is becoming each week more impressive. Recently confirmed speakers include Patrick Alley, Paul Collier, John Githongo, Karen Lissakers and Kunio Mikuriya. Alley is the cofounder and director of Global Witness, a leading NGO that focuses on preventing conflict and corruption arising from the use of natural resources. Professor Collier is a world famous author and economist, best known for his 2007 best selling book The Bottom Billion. Githongo is a lauded whistleblower and former head of Kenya’s anti-corruption commission, while Lissakers directs the Revenue Watch Institute in Washington DC and Mikuriya is the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization. These speakers have done far more though than what fits in these few lines, so be sure to check out their photos and bios on the 14th IACC Speakers page!

A fundamental feature of each IACC is the eclectic mix of up to 50 workshops and special sessions that take place during the 4 days of the conference. 14th IACC workshops will tackle the following global challenges:

Restoring Trust for Peace & Security

Strengthening Global Action for an Accountable Corporate World

IACC workshops aim to stimulate debate, forge solutions and identify tangible, effective and innovative strategies to combat corruption and boost transparency and accountability standards.
The call for workshop proposals was open until 31 March 2010. Write to us or visit http://www.14iacc.org for more info!

With the first decade of the new millennium drawing to a close, transparency now has a place on global, regional and national agendas. It has become fashionable for political candidates to campaign on anti-corruption and good governance platforms. International agreements have been ratified and international firms progressively adopt compliance and oversight programmes. Yet trust in institutions on which our future depends has eroded.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis, the challenges threatening the livelihood of populations across the world have increased while hope for greater social justice has faded: Efforts to reduce poverty and to deliver on promises for sustainable development, human security, curbing illicit trade and climate control have not yet resulted in positive change.

Around the world, headlines showcase the continued impunity and the rise in organised crime and illicit financial flows. When trust in governance is questioned and confidence in institutions is hollow, apathy and insecurity flourish, creating an environment ripe for corruption.

This apathy must be combated with a compelling sense of urgency to address challenges head on. Many of the right promises have been made – the task at hand is to ensure that commitments are honoured. To restore peoples’ trust and rebuild the credibility of institutions, governments must move beyond expressions of political will to concrete action; the private sector must put a check on bribery and fulfil their obligations as corporate citizens and civil society must demand accountability. Above all, there is an urgent need for all actors to work together towards a transparent and accountable global governance agenda.

Be part of the solution. Join leading experts from civil society, the public, and private sectors at the 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) from November 10 to 13, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. At the 14th IACC the global community will produce the strategies and recommendations to reset the global governance agenda for a sustainable future.

Hon. Justice Barry O’Keefe, Madame Labelle, Dr Marschall, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honour for me to have this opportunity to say just a few words to you this afternoon, at the closing of the 13th IACC in Athens.

These past four days have been truly amazing. I am sure you will all agree that listening to the view of so many experts in the field and talking to anti-corruption officials from around the world, and sharing past successes, even failures, as well as future plans and hopes with so many old acquaintances and new-found friends, has been an unforgettable and energising experience. Congratulations to our hosts for a truly successful conference.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission of Thailand, the NACC, has been selected to host the 14th IACC in 2010. Since it was founded nine years ago, as a truly independent agency, to prevent and suppress corruption, the NACC has striven to increase its activities in the domestic and international arena.

The fact that it will host the IACC in 2010 is a sure sign of its success and standing in the field of anti-corruption. In fact, 2010 will be a truly important year for Thailand, as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who in his economic philosophy propounded the need for social justice and transparency, will become the longest reigning monarch.

There will be much rejoicing throughout the country, as the people celebrate His Majesty’s long life and remarkable achievements, and Thailand will be proud to welcome the world to join in these celebrations.

Honourable Justice O’Keefe, on behalf of the NACC, I hereby accept your invitation to host the 14th IACC in 2010. I do so with gratitude for the special opportunity that has been given to the NACC and to Thailand, and I do so with humility, aware of the enormous responsibility that is involved. And I do so with quiet confidence that, with the assistance of my colleagues at the NACC, Transparency International, TI Thailand and all of you, the 14th IACC will become a conference to remember.

Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to welcoming you all to Bangkok in 2010. “Khop Khun Mak”, which means thank you all very much. I look forward to seeing you in two years time in Thailand.

Thank you for your attention. 

2008 is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights do you view corruption as a threat to this vision?

Very much so. I was very keen to ensure that we made good links during this year with the many chapters of Transparency International that are tackling corruption and the human rights people on the ground who are addressing the violations of human rights. There is a real overlap. When we launched the Elders campaign Every Human Has Rights, which is on the website http://www.everyhumanhasrights.org, Cobus de Swardt [Managing Director of Transparency International] came to Cape Town for it. Huguette Labelle [Chair of Transparency International] and I are members of the board of the Global Compact and we had said that this was the year to encourage more linking between human rights and corruption because corruption links to huge violations of human rights.

The Elders has a mission to “support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict, and inspire hope where there is despair”, does corruption represent a hurdle to this and do you have any plans to tackle it?

I think we would see it as being implicit in our approach of being humble. That is how Nelson Mandela wonderfully instructed us at our planning meeting. He said to be humble and reach out and listen to those who feel invisible, that feel isolated, that feel voiceless in society and who are victims of corruption. These are the people who need to have a voice and be understood. These very people who suffer from corruption, whether it is corruption in the health service, corruption in the police, or corruption in governments of rich countries with large poor populations because the resources are being siphoned away. So I feel we have a very strong encouragement to speak out against corruption and the Elders intend to be good strong moral voices on all of these issues.

There is a school of thought that globalisation equals unscrupulous multi-national corporations for whom the bottom line is the only guiding principle. To what extent is this the case? Do you think that the growing awareness of corporate social responsibility and the birth of such voluntary initiatives as the UN Global Compact are making corporations see what role they can play in driving positive change?

I’m slow to characterise globalisation as being necessarily negative. At the moment, when we talk about globalisation we are talking about economic globalisation by and large and that is weighted in favour of the rich countries. But there are opportunities in the context of globalisation. On 16 October this year, 116.9 million people stood up in a 24 hour period against poverty. That is a huge mobilisation and if we can build on that strength, it’s the strength of numbers.

I think the Global Compact provides a framework that is quite weak in its standards, but we have ways of strengthening it. The board of the Global Compact has decided to have committees. I chair the Human Rights Working Group, Huguette Labelle chairs the Anti-corruption Working Group, and there is now a labour one that we’ve formed. That provides the beginnings of bringing good practices into a voluntary arrangement, which is what the Global Compact is.

I am interested in how we can have the mandates of John Ruggie become, over the next three years, an operational mandate on the duty of states to protect their people from violations by what we call non-state actors, which includes business. It is more than just “do no harm”, you must find out what is the impact of your business, are you in violations of human rights? If you are bribing in poor countries and getting away with it, you are not respecting human rights.

Interview by Michael Sidwell, Transparency International