Corruption: Killing the World's Poor

Whereas fifteen years ago the subject of corruption was swept under the carpet and rarely discussed, or even acknowledged, it now receives considerable international attention.

The "International Anti-Corruption Conference", which normally nowadays happens every second year has been going much longer than fifteen years, in fact since 1983. It was for many years one of the few international forums in which the issue received serious attention.

Having been involved in several past conferences I'm sadly going to have to miss this year's 13th IACC in Athens, Greece, but will be watching out for materials on the web site at a later date. I was at the 2006 meetings in Guatemala City, as well as at earlier conferences in Prague and Seoul. Each of these was an excellent event providing massive resources for the corruption fighter.

Are you, or are you intending to become, seriously active in the field of anti-corruption either nationally or internationally? If so, I would strongly advise that in addition to linking up with your national chapter of Transparency International, you consider going to Athens this year if at all possible, both for content and for contacts. It won't be a cheap option (but there are "early-bird" rates) and it will be several days of hard work, but from it you'll get a comprehensive overview of the state of anti-corruption activity around the world.

Meanwhile some of the papers from plenary sessions of the 12th IACC in Guatemala are available for download.