COPENHAGEN, 9 December 2019 – Observing International Anti-Corruption Day, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Fighting Corruption Irene Charalambides (MP, Cyprus), today reiterated that corruption poses a serious threat to democracy, as it undermines institutions, security, and the rule of law, and erodes citizens’ prosperity as well as equality.

Irene Charalambides“Corruption is undermining public confidence in the political system, hampering social and economic development, discouraging investment, facilitating international crime and is also contributing to human rights abuses,” Charalambides said. “Strengthening the transparency and accountability in every domain of public life, as well as the protection of the independence of the media, of investigative journalists, of whistleblowers, as well as of members of non-governmental organizations active in the fight against corruption, must remain key components of our efforts.”

She noted that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has committed to jointly assume responsibility in the fight against corruption by taking a range of measures in order to strengthen co-operation with international bodies working to prevent and combat corruption, noting that she has been working as Special Representative to reinforce the Assembly’s communication with partners.

“We consider international organizations such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Moneyval, as allies in our efforts,” Charalambides said.

She added that these partnerships reflect the commitment of OSCE parliamentarians to contribute to international efforts to fight corruption for the benefit of development, of peace and security, working alongside national parliaments and international actors.

“In order to make this co-operation with the international anti-corruption bodies even more methodical and effective we will have the opportunity to exchange views on the role that national parliaments can play in this direction, in the context of a conference to be organized in May 2020,” she said.

For more information on the work of the Special Representative on Fighting Corruption please visit her web page.