EUROsociAL+ creates a new community of practice dedicates to debate and exchange information related to corruption and women.
Corruption is not neutral. It impacts differently on women and girls in Latin America, who experience corrupt practices more frequently and in specific ways because of their gender and their vulnerable situation.
Court officials or police officers who demand sexual favours from women in exchange for helping them or their families with procedures being conducted by their offices. University teachers who ask their students for sexual exchanges if they want to pass. Police officers paid by prostitution or human trafficking networks to look the other way or even actively collaborate. Prison guards who allow girls and women to be brought in to be exploited sexually by the leaders of a criminal organisation. Some of these behaviours could be considered ‘petty corruption’, but others are part of a systemic phenomenon. In other scenarios, power allows officials to control and take over the criminal activity itself.
Latin America is beginning to strengthen its anti-corruption policies with the incorporation of a gender perspective, and with the development of specific tools to combat a scourge that affects the female population differently. Its members are victims of crimes such as human trafficking or sexual extortion in exchange for social services.
Based on the regional diagnosis ‘Women and Corruption’, the Democratic Governance area of the European Union Cooperation Programme with Latin America, EUROsociAL+, has set up spaces for dialogue and awareness in workshops with international organisations and networks and with national institutions with which it works on the design of specific tools and articulations as pilot programmes.
The Women and Corruption forum in capacity4dev was created to encourage thought and the exchange of experiences. With your help, we want to systematise and spread such accumulated knowledge on corruption and gender. The ultimate objective is to position this crucial issue in public policies in Latin America and in other regions of the world, which will allow more effective combating of corrupt practices that affect women and girls. We look forward to your participation!
Acces to forum: Corruption and its effects on women in Latin America and the Caribbean
