Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian President and Nobel Peace Prize, presented the international forum “Corruption: the worst form of violence”, organized by Semana magazine and supported by the European Union
EUROsociAL promotes the transparency and the fight against corruption in Latin America. In this framework, for two days, Bogotá hosted one of the highest-level forums organised by Semana magazine. On this occasion, the forum was entitled “Corruption: the worst form of violence”, and it enjoyed the support of the European Union, through the Delegation in Colombia, and the participation of EUROsociAL in a panel on anticorruption good practices, moderating by FIIAPP. The event has been introduced by the Colombian President and Peace Nobel Prize, Juan Manuel Santos, leading the participation of Colombians institutions, international organisations such as OECD and International Transparency and cooperation programmes as ACTÚE Colombia Project.
The purpose of the “Corruption: the worst form of violence” forum was to generate a joint reflection among public officials, international experts, civil society organisations, journalists and politicians on the challenges posed by new forms of corruption; to share successful experiences; and to identify novel strategies for combating impunity and promoting a cultural change. These presentations were noteworthy for the recommendations regarding the need to break the vicious circle between political funding and public contracting, fighting organised crime, in addition to establishing a common and comprehensive focus in the area of prevention. One common point that the participants agreed on was the need to promote a social change in favour of the public sphere among citizens, to foster ethical values and political integrity.
The panel entitled “What Anticorruption good practices could be implemented at national level? Experiences from multilateral organisations”, chaired by Pedro Flores (Director of FIIAPP), included the participation of Spanish Judge José de la Mata (expert of previous phase of EUROsociAL), who presented important keys to improving the investigation and prosecution of corruption cases, and Patrick Moulette, the head of the OECD Anti-Corruption Division, who explained the measures that the OECD are promoting to fight transnational bribery.
This forum brought together leading international and Columbian officials, as well as top anti-corruption experts from academia, the media, social organisations and political movements, for a two-day discussion on the forms and causes of corruption in Colombia and to propose measures to counteract this problem troubling the country. The event was covered by numerous media outlets from all over the country.
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